


Target Acquired: Wicked Jester

by poorasdirt



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Adult Arcobaleno, BAMF Skull (Reborn), Canon - Manga, Character Study, Mystery, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2019-10-04 21:43:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 92,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17312375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poorasdirt/pseuds/poorasdirt
Summary: Colonnello has always been a military man. He understood what led to him being cursed. He understood why the others had been cursed. Or, well, why most of the others had been cursed. Skull's motivations had always been a mystery to him. Now that the curse had been lifted, Colonnello could finally sit back and try to puzzle it out. If only it were that easy.Or Colonnello's instincts were telling him something wasn't right and curiosity only kills cats.





	1. Thoughts and Realizations

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I know I should be working on my other stories. But this wouldn't leave me alone. And before you ask, maybe I'll add to this, maybe I won't. I have no real direction and no beta, so nah :P

It bothered him. The thought sat in the back of his mind for years. A sort of niggling thing that something just wasn’t right, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

He hadn’t really known the others before that horrible day nearly three decades ago. He didn’t go on the missions or stay at the manor with Luce. He wasn’t even supposed to have left his unit to see what drove his commanding officer to go AWOL.

He knew what the kids thought. They all had this romantic perception he had snuck off to save Lal from a fate worse than death. That he had loved her so much he stepped in front of her in a bid to spare her from the curse.

But they were only partially right. He did love Lal, don’t get him wrong. However, it hadn’t been love that made him have that split-second decision that haunted him for years.

He was a military man, had been most of his life.

His father was military, his grandfather had been military, they even said his great-grandfather was ranked in the armed forces. His childhood was spent making sure the corners of his sheets were square and he knew how to assemble a rifle in under two minutes. He didn’t participate in sports, rather his dad had him doing PT before he even understood it had a technical term.

No, he might love Lal, wish to be with her always, but love wasn’t what drove him to cover her that day. It had been so ingrained in him to protect his superior officer he hadn’t even realized he moved until it was too late. He also knew if their roles had been reversed Lal would have done the same thing for the same reason.

Love didn’t factor into it.

But for the others, he knew they had gotten caught up by something they loved. Or that was at least how he figured it worked. Viper being pulled in by money, Verde by knowledge, Reborn was in it for the glory.

It took him a while to figure out why Fon was there. But after a long night with some strong drinks it came out that Kawahira had promised the marital artist a way to control his Flames better. How the Storm always worried his calm would slip and he would unintentionally hurt someone he cared about in ways that could never be forgiven.

Honor, greed, knowledge, prestige, fear, in a way they all had similar reasons.

What bothered him, however, was Skull.

Colonnello could never figure out where the Cloud fit into the grand scheme of things. The purple haired menace was cowardly, avoiding as much conflict as he could, so the Rain figured it was fear that drove his Cloud. But after what he saw from memories of the future that never would be, he doubted that assumption.

Colonnello could never call Skull a coward again after that. Not when he had been there to watch Skull rage in a way he had never seen before. Watched in muted horror as the Cloud made it rain blood and pain on their enemies until that damned purple pacifier cracked.

He still shuddered as he thought of the pained scream from his Cloud as purple Flames consumed him in the end.

Never let it be said Skull wouldn’t go down without a fight. Even when Skull had such a tired look in his eyes as he stared down hundreds of enemies to protect Colonnello. The Rain still didn’t understand how the Cloud could stand so tall or fight so well when the radiation eating away at them made Colonnello feel like he was slowly suffocating on his own Flames.

But getting their memories of that future wasn’t the first time Colonnello thought of Skull’s motives for joining the Arcobaleno. The first time he thought of it was shortly after they were cursed. When they were all hopelessly lost and confused, stricken by their new baby forms.

Skull had taken off first. He had slipped away while they were still processing what had happened to them. The purple haired menace had simply vanished for a while before whispers in the mafia reached the rest of them.

For a while, after the curse, Reborn wasn’t the Greatest Hitman in the World. Colonnello had remembered thinking it insane that the clumsy kid of the group had topped their true leader in terms of skill. Lal told him all about the Cloud who probably would shoot himself in the foot rather than figure out how to properly handle a firearm.

That was the first time Colonnello had really wondered what was it that drove Skull to that mountaintop. Why was this loudmouthed idiotic kid who had no real training among a group of world class professionals? It had never made sense, it still didn’t really.

Even after Skull began his almost yearly attack on Mafia Land. A tradition that was more of Skull just goofing off than any serious threat. Colonnello learned over the years that had Skull really wanted to, there would have been no way for the Rain to stop the Cloud from overtaking the resort.

Colonnello could care less what Reborn thought on the matter, some of Skull’s plans would be real trouble if the Cloud had taken them seriously. Years of pouring over historical battles on the knee of his father taught Colonnello tactics, and Skull was perhaps the best tactician among the Arcobaleno. A terrifying thought since Colonnello knew the others never took a long hard look at Skull’s plans when they were presented.

Sometimes Colonnello found it absurd even Lal overlooked the Cloud because of his professed Civilian status. That was another thing that bothered Colonnello to no end. The blond had trouble thinking of Skull as a civilian and wasn’t sure why the others thought that.

Colonnello noticed the way Skull moved, how those sharp purple eyes glossed over a room with seeming disinterest. Those things weren’t things civilians learned normally. It wasn’t even something he noticed was common in the mafia, even with the higher tier members.

The closest Colonnello came to see someone mimicking Skull’s movements was the Varia. The way they sometimes glanced at pockets to see if they had any weight. The quiet easy glide they used to slink around, keeping their voices loud so no one realized how silent they really were.

Reborn was close, but there was something just a bit more dramatic about the Sun. In many ways Colonnello could see a soldier in Reborn’s movements, someone used to taking orders. It was why he was always butting heads with their leader, testing how far Reborn could take command.

Skull didn’t take orders well. That’s not to say Skull couldn’t work to accomplish a goal, the Cloud was very good at that. But Skull couldn’t follow commands to the letter and preformed better in more fluid situations, where everything was going wrong and he only had himself to rely on.

A lone operative rather than a team player.

The sniper in Colonnello could never relax with Skull around. He was constantly trying to keep an eye on the Cloud. Something whispering in the back of Colonnello’s mind that Skull was the greatest danger to lose sight of.

The Rain couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but sometimes the Cloud made him feel like he knew he was in the crosshairs of an enemy sniper that had the high ground.

Don’t even get Colonnello started on the way Skull, with all his overdramatic gaudy personality, could fade into a crowd. Even looking like a circus reject, Skull could blend in better than any persona Reborn devised. Even Viper and Fon stood out like neon lights compared to Skull’s masterful camouflage.

Whenever he thought back at the few times he watched Skull worm his way into a place with just a few well placed words, it sent a shiver down Colonnello’s spine.

It didn’t help that most of the time those instances seemed to come out of nowhere. Like Skull just happening to ask for an invitation to an exclusive party and getting one handed to him. Or that one job where Skull just walked up to a bouncer, flashed a smile, and was soon let in the front door when the other Arcobaleno had to find alternative ways to get in.

Skull claimed it was from his celebrity status, but Colonnello only believed that excuse three times out of ten. Yes, there was still some glint to that Hollywood star that had Skull de Mort written all over it. Colonnello paid Viper a good sum to see just how far Skull’s claims of Best Stuntman in the World stacked up.

Skull had worked on so many motion pictures it wasn’t funny. Colonnello watched all the old movies with a critical eye, finding the ones that had Skull doubling a lead star or picking apart the stunts Skull coordinated. The mastery was something that made something else in Colonnello uneasy.

Fon was their martial arts specialist. Yet, Colonnello watched hundreds of Kung Fu, Samurai, and Ninja dramas with Skull’s name somehow attached. The Rain would bet money that Skull still remembered all the katas he had to know to make the fighting choreography look so real.

Fon even expressed how impressed he was with some of the movies he caught Colonnello watching. The Storm unaware that the masked ninja Colonnello intently eyed on the screen was their Cloud preforming death defying stunts. The fact that more than three fourths of the movies Colonnello sat through with Fon were the martial artist’s favorites said something.

It was even more impressive because those movies were shot before there were things like green screens or CGI. Sure, there was pully systems and such, but each stunt had to be preformed on camera. Each mark had to be hit, and each action executed with flawless precision.

And that was just the roles credited to Skull de Mort. To his Cloud’s stage name which while it was a whole beast onto itself, it was only half the picture. There were even more movies credited to Alexis Damian, the man behind the name Skull de Mort.

As far as Colonnello could tell, there was no better way to describe Skull de Mort and Alexis Damian than Day and Night. Skull shined in death defying stunts and fast action sequences. Alexis hung his laurels in dark police noirs, gritty westerns, and playing villainous roles throughout the genres.

Seeing the brooding dark-haired blue-eyed man wearing Skull’s face playing opposite greats like Glen Campbell and Elizabeth Taylor was just jarring. Yet there he was, smooth talking ladies and sending predatory smirks across smoke filled rooms to the leading men. Colonnello shifted slightly as with just a tilt of his head and a shift of his posture, Skull’s normal impish smile turned into something resembling Reborn’s smirk of chaos.

Alexis Damian was an electrifying performer who had more accolades to his name than Colonnello had medals for his service. The sad part being Alexis wasn’t even considered that old. The fact everyone believed the man died in some rundown motel room to a drug overdoes just made Colonnello sick.

Especially since after reading that article Colonnello looked up from his laptop to find Skull across the room flailing while being teased by Reborn.

So, it bothered Colonnello. It didn’t make sense that a stuntman, who despite being so young was incredibly accomplished, would be there on that mountaintop. Sure, Skull didn’t know a thing about the Mafia and couldn’t control his massive Flames, but there was nothing that indicated Skull should have fallen in the trap Checkerface laid.

Colonnello wanted to say fear was what drove Skull to that mountain. But that left a bad taste in his mouth. As he leaned back and eyed his Cloud, Colonnello could tell for all the failing and over the top dramatics, Skull never really shown any sort of true fear.

It was in that moment, with the list of Oscar nominations and wins apparently attributed to Skull in front of him, Colonnello realized that his Cloud was acting.

Skull was playing a role.

Colonnello’s eagle eyed sight, which made him one of the best snipers in the Mafia, could see it as if it was a target as large as the side of a barn. Each carefully choreographed movement, a fluid dance. Each rehearsed line that Colonnello heard maybe a million times from his Cloud.

It was like watching a slapstick routine from a comedy sitcom that had been played out in reruns for years. Colonnello could almost count the seconds down until Reborn pulled out his gun and fired at the stuntman who dodged. He knew the next few lines by heart, could almost say them even before Reborn opened his mouth.

Somewhere in the back of the Rain’s mind, an unseen audience laughed.

And the Immortal Stuntman Skull de Mort threw his head back to laugh with them.


	2. First Engagement

Admittedly Colonnello figured he could have planned it better. But the nagging questions just wouldn’t leave him alone. His revelation had only added another layer of mystery to the puzzle that was Skull de Mort.

He did have a plan of course. He didn’t like flying into situation blind if he could help it. But his carefully laid plans flew out the window the moment he opened his mouth.

The moment was perhaps one of the few times he noticed they had left their guards relaxed. Not down, Skull’s guard was never down. That was something Colonnello realized was rather consistent about his Cloud.

Skull was always on stage. He was always going through the motions of his performance. Colonnello wasn’t even sure if Skull dropped the act when the stuntman knew the others weren’t around to notice.

But it had been a long night.

Tsunayoshi had thrown the Arcobaleno a party to commemorate the curse breaking and the group of them regaining their adult bodies. Colonnello suspected it was really Yuni and Reborn behind the whole thing, but Sawada had been the one to host. It made sense given how Viper liked to think themselves part of the Varia and Colonnello’s beautiful Lal was part of the CEDEF.

Reborn of course was self-explanatory. While for once that violent Cloud Guardian of the Decimo, Hibari, decided to acknowledge that Fon was indeed a blood relative. Verde still had a satellite lab in Kokuyo Land, pretending not to watch over the Decimo’s Mist but they all knew otherwise.

That left Skull. The elusive stuntman that, despite always knowing when the others needed him, always had a way of slipping silently away to avoid social gatherings. It took a lot to rope the Cloud into a gathering as it was, but when it involved a party of some sort with Reborn involved, Skull seemed to become a ghost.

It took a lot of begging from Sawada and even a plead from the Simon kid to get the Cloud to make an appearance. It took several death threats and ultimately having Hibari and Reborn beat him down to get Skull to stay. The stuntman had run through one of his standard routines before slipping off into a corner to sulk and growl spitefully at them when they tried to get him to join them.

Luckily enough Reborn was more interested in torturing his student and the rest of the kids to bother with the less than agreeable Cloud.

Colonnello had a blast for most of the party though. He got to flirt with Lal, and it was no longer awkward when they snuggled up to one another. Their relationship would still need some time to mend fully but Colonnello was confident they’d be happily married in the next five years.

When the Varia brought out the alcohol, things sort of blurred together for a while. They even managed to coax Skull from his corner for a drinking game or two. Even Xanxus seemed impressed by the amount of straight liquor Skull could shoot back.

The Cloud left the Varia Sky passed out at the table after Xanxus passed out from too much whiskey. Instead Skull had retreated to his corner with a full fifth of high end imported Russian Vodka. Those calculating purple eyes watching as the kids went down one by one as the alcohol took its toll on all of them.

All the while Skull had quietly sipped from his bottle and eventually relaxed back, guard slowly lowering just a smidge.

Colonnello himself had managed to corral Lal who liked to strip when she had a bit too much. In fact, he was perhaps the soberest one as the night wound down. Reborn eventually settled half on and half off a large recliner with his feet propped up on an ottoman. Viper ended up passed out on the bar counter with Verde curled up on a bar stool not far away teetering on two legs.

Fon was still aware as he stumbled about trying to make sure all the kids would make it through the night. The last thing they needed was to wake up to find one of them got sick in their sleep and drowned in their own vomit too drunk to even wake up in time to save themselves. It was a valiant effort really, but Fon gave him a half-dazed smile when Colonnello waved the Storm off and took over the task.

Fon flopped onto an empty love seat and seemed to promptly join the rest in unconsciousness.

After making sure none of the kids would die if the first thing they did, was upchuck the night before. Colonnello gently moved the teetering scientist off the bar stool and onto a nearby daybed to sleep it off properly. He did a quick check on Reborn who seemed fine, the bastard even had his fedora over his eyes like he was used to sleeping in overstuffed recliners.

Finally, after checking over Yuni, who was curled up on a couch with the female Decimo Mist, Colonnello turned to his last comrade.

Sharp bright purple eyes peered at him from over a still half full bottle of vodka. Skull was sprawled on the carpeted floor near a large potted plant several feet away from the drunken mess that sprawled around the room. The Cloud was within easy distance of the hall door and a window, likely escape routes he would ultimately take as soon as Colonnello gave him the opportunity.

Colonnello had grabbed the first bottle of unopen alcohol his hand could land on and sauntered over to the Cloud. He lowered himself down against the same wall but made sure to keep Skull’s escape routes open. He hadn’t participated in the beat down to keep the Cloud there, and he oddly found himself reluctant to try and force his company on the stuntman any more than he had to.

He had been doing that quite a bit since his revelation.

He wouldn’t say he was kind. But he was at least a tad more considerate than he had been. The others hadn’t even noticed, or if they had they hadn’t mentioned it. He wouldn’t have cared either way, since they had known the stuntman for thirty years and not known the man at all.

Not saying anything Colonnello twisted open the bottle and took a quick gulp. He nearly spat it out a second later as his senses were overwhelmed with a sharp earthy scent and the liquid burnt down his throat. He blinked away a few reflexive tears as he tried to breathe around the sensation of swallowing a dollop of Vicks Sinus Cream.

He had never liked tequila all that much. It had a funny way of clear out his sinuses faster than any cold medicine he had ever been subscribed. It also brought back old memories of his first unit.

The group of guys he went through basic with and ultimate followed when they were deployed. They had been a bunch of stupid scared little boys trying to be men. Most of his unit was gunned down during a peace assignment when they were helping refugees fleeing the war over the Sinai Peninsula.

It had been bad.

But there had been a few good memories there. Like the time they were selected to go to help the Mexican forces train because the whole Cuban Missile Crisis. They had a night off and got dragged to the local bars.

Colonnello could remember waking up with a pretty girl only to puke his guts out from too much alcohol on the steps of some cheap motel nearly five hours away from base. His commanding officer at the time had him running laps until he puked again for that stunt. But the guys had all laughed about it.

That had been his first introduction to tequila.

Movement out of the corner of his eye brought him back to the present. He wasn’t back in the dusty barracks with guys who ragged on him for not being able to hold his liquor. Instead he was seated almost an arm’s length away from the most confusing puzzle had ever met, sipping alcohol in a room full of passed out kids.

Maybe it was the alcohol. Maybe it was the memories. Maybe it was just his general frustration.

Either way, when he opened his mouth his mind decided to blurt out something without first consulting his brain.

“You’re Alexis Damian.”

The world seemed to stop for a moment. For one long second everything seemed to hold its breath. Colonnello felt his stomach drop as he turned wide eyes to the Cloud next to him.

Skull was frozen. The open bottle paused part way to his slightly open mouth. But those sharp purple eyes almost seemed to glow as they peered at Colonnello from their corners.

“Am I?” Skull asked smoothly.

“Yea.” Colonnello said with a nod. “I got curious about your claims of being a stuntman. Found some old movies you worked on and read through the credits. Did you really get to kiss Lynda Carter?”

Skull hummed an affirmative.

“You kissed Wonder Woman.” Colonnello said in slight awe as he blinked at the stuntman next to him.

“And Catherine Bach.” Skull added after a pause.

“Catherine Bach?” Colonnello blinked.

“The original Daisy Duke.” Skull clarified simply. “Though she wasn’t Daisy Duke at the time.”

“You mean cut off jeans, Dukes of Hazzard, moonshiners, crazy car stunts Daisy Duke?” Colonnello asked slowly.

“I was actually supposed to go work on the car stunts for the show before Checker Face caught up to me.” Skull muttered before knocking back another gulp of liquor.

Colonnello paused for a moment taking that in. He knew about the hit American TV show Dukes of Hazzard. It had been iconic even back when they were first cursed.

Colonnello had wanted to know if some of the stunts pulled off in the show could be pulled off in a tank. And to think, he was seated next to a stuntman that had been considered to work on that show. Colonnello bet the whole thing would have been ten times better if Skull had been there.

“So, you really are Alexis Damian, four-time Oscar award winner and nine-time nominee.” Colonnello said simply realizing he had just had all his information confirmed. It was staggering as he let his head fall back to thunk against the wall behind him.

“And you’re Colonnello Ricardo Valente, you were a decorated commanding officer in COMSUBIN.” Skull offered making Colonnello pause.

“How do you know my name?” Colonnello whispered softly. “You, I get. Your whole life is practically public record. Me? They haven’t even declassified the mission I was on when I went MIA.”

“Your mission was to track down leads of where your superior officer, Maggior Generale Laura Morandi. I always did give her props for choosing a good code name.” Skull muttered swirling the vodka around in the bottle he was holding. “Easier to respond to something similar to what your used to.”

“How do you know Lal’s name?” Colonnello asked feeling the blood drain from his face. None of them should have figured out Lal’s name.

“I know his name too.” Skull said tilting the open bottle top towards Reborn. “He grew up simply as Biagio, cause of his lisp. Son of a street whore and one of her clients. She named him Ferdinando Allegri, not that he ever knew that. She died when he was four.”

“I thought his name was Renato.” Colonnello muttered with a frown.

“It was one of his cover names.” Skull said shaking his head. “He had twenty of them at the time. Four of the top hitmen in the Mafia were just aliases he used to not be tied to a single Famiglia.”

“What about Fon?” Colonnello asked softly now intrigued.

“Liu Huan,” Skull answered easily, “born and grew up in the Triads. His younger sister Liu Daiyu eventually left China and married into the Hibari clan.”

Colonnello could have imagined it, but for a second, he thought he saw Fon twitch. Still it made Colonnello swallow heavily. He felt like he was suddenly out of his depth.

“And Verde and Viper?” He whispered wanting to know.

What information did Skull have on all of them? How had he come across it? There was nothing in Skull’s profile to suggest even an inkling to dig up this sort of intel, let alone have it be accurate.

Colonnello was half convinced the other Arcobaleno in the room were faking their lack of consciousness at this point, aside from Yuni. The Arcobaleno Sky was unconscious. But now that he looked around the room, he was pretty sure the others were aware of what their Cloud was saying.

Luckily the kids were all out of it. Yes, that included the Varia. Colonnello could remember Xanxus when he was supposed to be knee high, that meant they were kids too.

“Verde,” Skull paused as if thinking, “Professor Edmund Greene, graduated from the University of Oxford at the top of his class when he was sixteen.”

Colonnello blinked but wasn’t really surprised. He knew Verde was a genius. He just hadn’t known the scientist was British.

“Viper,” Skull tilted his head pausing for a half a second longer. “They were born Jacqueline Chaput but changed their name to Morgan for a while. They settled on Viper after moving permanently to Italy.”

“Wait, Jacqueline?” Colonnello cringed because his French accent was no where near as smooth as Skull’s had been. “Viper’s female?”

“Bio-female, they’re non-binary. They have been since they were born. I think that was why they distanced themselves so far from their birthname.” Skull said thoughtfully. “Jacqueline had also been the name of their maternal grandmother. From her old journals, it’s easy to see that Madame Jacqueline had been disappointed in the behavior of her grandchild.”

“You read Viper’s grandmother’s journals?” Colonnello asked in awe. “How’d you even get those?”

The cool side eye was back. It reminded Colonnello he knew next to nothing about the stuntman. For a second, he wondered if reaching out and shaking the Cloud would dislodge some of the mysteries surrounding him.

“Just,” Colonnello whispered in a sigh, “who are you?”

That smile wasn’t one Colonnello had ever seen before. It wasn’t the Skull de Mort grin of idiocy and arrogance. It also wasn’t the smooth smirk of Alexis Damian playing a role.

For a moment, that slight curling of lips was someone else. Someone Colonnello had never met and one he didn’t have a name for. For a moment, Skull’s act slipped, and he wasn’t Skull at all.

“I suppose that depends on who you ask.” Skull said almost mocking. “I’m Skull de Mort, the Immortal Stuntman, the Man Death Hates. I’m also Skull the Cloud Arcobaleno, the Arcobaleno Lackey, the Idiot Civilian. Or if you want, I’m Alexis Damian, award winning actor and stunt coordinator.”

The mocking smirk was suddenly gone as Skull passed over the bottle of vodka he had been holding.

“Or I can be someone else entirely if you want.” Skull said before standing up. “I never really stayed tied to a role for long.”

Colonnello numbly watched as his Cloud disappeared out into the hallway. For that one moment in time, he thought he had seen all the answers to his questions and none of them at all. For one moment the act was gone and only the person under all the layers was present.

It made his head hurt so he decided to forgo the tequila for vodka. But even as he saw Reborn start to move, even as Fon slid off the loveseat and Viper sat up on the bar. Even as Verde was pulling out a small computer, likely to help track the now running Cloud, Colonnello felt his world stop.

“When did he switch the vodka for water?!” Colonnello spat as he nearly choked on the clear almost flavorless liquid in the bottle he was holding.

And somehow, lingering in the air, Colonnello almost felt like Skull paused long enough to give a bow before silently drifting out of the mansion.

The distant roar of a motorcycle engine echoing in the Rain’s mind, like an audience applauding the brilliant act of a well-seasoned stage actor at the end of a play.


	3. Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be a small follow up to the previous chapter. I'm not sure how it got so long, but here it is. I'm not quite sure if this is still considered a character study or not. Let me know what you think and if I should be adding any more tags, I'm horrible with tags.

Colonnello was only half aware as he felt something strong yank his body to the side. He wasn’t even conscious enough to curse as he numbly felt his feet stumble over themselves. So, he felt he could be forgiven for losing his balance and letting his face ram into cold tiles as something shoved him hard from behind.

He was slowly coming to when he was jolted into wakefulness thanks to ice cold water. Blinking the blur of sleep out of his vision he looked up at the shadow looming next to the edge of the shower. Lal’s face was serious, cold and blank, but the slight frown let him know he, they, were in trouble.

He tried to recall what he had been doing the night before. But all he could muster up was the feeling of a cotton ball lodged in his mouth and the sensation of his sinuses being cleared. He wondered if he was sick or if someone had managed to poison him.

“Get up!” Lal barked making him snap to. “Skull’s gone and you have some explaining to do. What the hell, Rico? How do they know my name?!”

“Wha?” He managed even as his mind tried to jumpstart once more.

“Reborn and the others.” She snapped glaring at him now. “They know my name. What did you tell them?”

“Nothing.” He snapped back with a glare. He gave her his word he wouldn’t reveal anything personal to the others.

“Then how do they know it? And where is Skull? The idiot is MIA and all the others can say is he took off. What the fuck happened?” Lal was almost in his face despite the threat of getting doused in cold water.

He blinked through the drops of clear liquid as the night before came back in blurry focus. Everything from having a blast to eventually sitting down next to Skull as the night finally wound down. Colonnello couldn’t remember much after Skull’s little revelations about who their comrades were.

Colonnello was pretty sure he chugged the rest of the bottle of tequila he had grabbed after realizing the bottle of vodka had been water.

A sudden low thudding sensation in his temples seemed to agree with that assessment. Still he mustered enough energy to gently swat Lal out of his face. Instead he tried his best to get his limbs to cooperate so he could stand.

Looking down as he braced himself against cool tiles, he noted she tossed him into the shower with his clothes still on.

“Where are we?” He asked looking around. He didn’t recognize the bathroom.

“One of Reborn’s safehouses in Namimori.” She answered before snapping. “Don’t change the subject!”

Colonnello nodded to that. Being at Reborn’s safehouse meant the possibility of the Vongola or any of their allies finding out sensitive information was minimal. Reborn was a lot of things, a paranoid hitman being one of them, he’d sweep for bugs as often as possible.

Colonnello also hoped someone grabbed his go-bag as he started pulling his drenched shirt over his head. His jacket, bandana, and socks were gone, so that just left his cargo pants, white shirt and underwear to get soaked. Even as he pushed some of his wet bangs out of his eyes, he noticed how Lal was standing there blushing with her arms crossed.

“Do you know if I got dry clothes around here, kora?” He asked even as he kicked his soggy clothes into a pile off to the side.

Lal rolled her eyes and shoved a towel at him. “You better start explaining, soldier.”

“Uh, right.” He said as he started to dry himself off. “Last night after the kids passed out, I went to talk to Skull who stayed the whole time.”

“Sulking against a wall, right?” She asked as he wrapped the towel around his waist.

“Yea.” He groaned as his mind finally registered how bright it was. “Got any aspirin?”

“You will get aspirin after you finish reporting.” She snapped even as she headed over to the door and pulled up a familiar bag. So, someone did grab his go-bag at least.

“Okay,” he muttered as he messaged the bridge of his nose to try to stave off his headache. “Anyway, I sort of blurted out Skull’s name.”

“Somehow I doubt he would react if you yelled his name at him.” She rolled her eyes.

“Not his stage name.” He snapped back. “His real name.”

“What?!” She snapped to his direction even as she held up one of his spare shirts. “You know his real name? Since when?”

“A few weeks ago.” Colonnello said running his hand through his still slightly damp hair. “I got curious and paid Viper to track down a movie or two that Skull might have worked on. We all know about his stunt shows, but he bragged he did more than just that.”

“So, he actually worked on movies?” Lal asked handing him a clean set of dry clothes.

“Yea, a lot of movies actually.” He said tugging on his underwear while trying not to fall on his face. “There was only a dozen or so credited to his stage name, Skull de Mort. But I got ahold of one of the producers, claimed I was a college kid researching old movie stunts for a thesis, and he gave me Skull’s actual name.”

“What is it?” She asked sounding intrigued.

“Alexis Damian. The guy even gave me another list of movies Skull worked on. Turns out he was a big name in Hollywood back in the mid to late seventies. He won Oscars, Lal.”

“I don’t see it.”

“That’s because he’s been acting like an idiot for years. Part of the reason I was looking into his past was because I wanted to know what drove him to that meeting with you and the others in the first place. His stage act is almost word for word how he acts around us. I managed to dig up some old recordings of his stunt shows and it’s uncanny how similar he is at a rally and how he goofs off around us.”

“You’ve got to be shitting me.” Lal sighed shaking her head.

“I wish I was, kora.” He shot back as he finished tugging on his bandana.

“The others are going to want to know about this.” She pointed out.

“Yes, we do.” A smooth dark voice said from where the door was.

Colonnello turned with Lal to see Reborn standing there leaning against the doorframe. Despite the party yesterday and a questionable amount of sleep, Reborn appeared as put together as he always did. If it wasn’t for the sharp look in his dark eyes and the slight tension around his mouth, Colonnello would have mistaken the Sun as uncaring of the current turn of events.

Reborn was stressed, not that Colonnello blamed him.

“Come on.” Lal said pushing Colonnello’s shoulder towards the door with a familiar laptop tucked under her other arm. “I take it your full report is on this ancient thing. You still haven’t told me what happened after you blurted out his name. What were you thinking? Were you thinking?”

“Uh,” Colonnello tried to answer the last questions first before clearing his throat. “Anyway, after he gave some confirmation about his actual name, he shot my name back into my face, kora. When I asked him about it… Lal he knew my mission was to track down leads of your whereabouts when you went MIA. I don’t know if he has any more details, but that’s how the others found out about your name. He just tossed it out there like it was nothing and even complimented the code name you picked.”

“How did he know I picked it?” She hissed. “My superiors could have assigned it.”

“He didn’t say. Instead he offered up Reborn’s name and a few snippets of history.” Colonnello said noticing Lal glance at the hitman curiously as they made their way down some stairs to the first floor.

“Biagio,” Reborn huffed with a frown. “But he apparently managed to track down my actual birthname as well. I spent most of my adolescence trying to locate anything pertaining to my family since I grew up an orphan. I couldn’t find much of anything, but he did.”

“Just who the fuck is Skull?” Lal asked blinking.

“Colonnello asked him that.” Reborn smirked glancing at Colonnello who refused to acknowledge he shrunk back just a tad. “Skull gave him a cryptic answer after running through all the names and titles Ricardo apparently knows.”

“Anyway,” Colonnello grumbled, “I was curious, so I asked about Fon. Skull even knew the real name of Fon’s sister. So, I had to ask about Verde and Viper.”

“And? Since we’re all going to be on first name basis, what are their names?” Lal asked as they walked into the kitchen where the others apparently were gathered.

“Lui Huan,” Reborn started motioning to the calm Fon serenely drinking tea. “Professor Edmund Greene,” a motion to a grumbling Verde seated behind a laptop. “And finally, Jacqueline Chaput, aka Morgan, aka Viper, aka Mammon.”

Colonnello noticed their Mist was the most agitated of them all. They were floating a foot of the ground furiously tapping on their phone. Yet there was a small almost imperceptible smirk hidden in the shadows of their hood.

“Wait, Viper’s female?” Lal asked turning to the Mist.

“Bio-female.” Viper intoned calmly. “I’m non-binary and prefer gender neutral pronouns. They and them if you have trouble remembering that.”

“Right.” Lal gave a sharp nod. “Why aren’t you more angered? I thought you hated us knowing anything about you that we haven’t paid through the nose for.”

“Skull has provided me with several missing pieces to further my files on the rest of you. Admittedly, it came at a steep cost to myself, since now you can further gather information on my person. But the reward has been far greater.” Viper said almost absently as they continued doing whatever it was one their phone. “However, I would very much like to see what information the Colonnello has found on our missing Cloud.”

“It’s not that much.” Colonnello sighed. “I managed to find out a good portion of his professional life, movies he worked on or stunt tours he did. But he wasn’t big enough for the tabloids despite winning more than a handful of awards. The Oscars are just the biggest ones.”

Colonnello absently accepted a couple of aspirin and a cup of hot coffee Lal shoved at him. His laptop was already on the kitchen counter and booting up under her brusque care. Instead Colonnello moved to start making breakfast, since the rest in the room were a bit hopeless in the kitchen.

There was a reason Skull was always on cooking duty since, besides Colonnello, the others weren’t trusted to make anything remotely edible. Fon was close, but the man tended to use far too many spices. The Storm was option four if Skull and Colonnello were both not present and the others couldn’t afford ordering takeout.

“Any information will be helpful.” Viper said already moving to peer over Lal’s shoulder. “It may help us find where Skull has taken off to. His trail ends after he made it to the airport in Namimori. There has been no activity on any of his financial accounts and there currently is no talk about him other than the collapse of the Carcassa. Even then it’s just a few rumors he might have been involved.”

“The Carcassa collapsed?” Colonnello frowned having not heard of that yet.

“It was inevitable.” Verde pipped up. “They’ve been getting into some pretty heavy disputes with a few other unsavory Famiglia. Despite Skull being one of their minor members, they didn’t have the manpower or technology to keep up.”

Colonnello frowned as he thought that over. That didn’t seem right to him, since he knew a good deal about how much manpower and resources Skull usually brought to Mafia Land in his yearly attacks. If anything, the Carcassa seemed to have been growing.

“I seem to recall you kept a tracker on his bike.” Fon said pulling Colonnello from his thoughts. “He has complained about that on numerous occasions.”

“He wasn’t using his usual bike. He apparently rented the one he came to the party with, under the name Christopher White.” Verde shot back. “In fact, all his preferred vehicles seemed to be stored in one facility in the south of France at this time.”

“Even the zeppelin?” Reborn asked with a frown.

“No, that was decommissioned a month or two ago. They broke it down, sold what parts they could, and the rest was sold off for salvage.” Verde said with a frown. “He actually spent two hours bemoaning the loss over the phone with me, something about the Carcassa don ordering it but I wasn’t particularly paying attention at the time.”

“So, he was planning on running.” Reborn said with a frown before turning to Colonnello. “You seem to have been keeping an eye on him. Has anything in his behavior changed? You mentioned the way he has acted around us is the same act he uses at his stunt shows.”

“His hatred for Yuni has been increasing lately.” Colonnello found himself say before pausing and thinking it over. That was true, now that he really thought about it. She had been part of the reason Skull didn’t want to go to the party in the first place.

“He hates Yuni?” Fon asked as the others seemed to pause. Colonnello could feel their eyes drilling into his back.

“He hated Aria and Luce, kora.” Colonnello said with a shrug. “I always thought if he was given the chance, he’d attack them. But something about Yuni really set him off, especially after she showed up in the Arcobaleno Trail. She wouldn’t even go see him alone at the hospital when he was there.”

“Now that you say it,” Lal began thoughtfully, “she did ask me to go with her to see him. Said she didn’t think she could stand seeing him injured like he was.”

“She asked me to look after him when he was healing.” Verde said thoughtfully. “Said she couldn’t because she had to establish herself in her Famiglia.”

“You don’t think he’d actually attack her though, right?” Viper asked softly and Colonnello turned around after making sure the eggs he had been cooking wouldn’t burn. They were looking at him with concern and a little suspicion.

“It’d depend.” Colonnello said seriously. “I don’t know him much better than the rest of you, kora. But I do know he won’t attack anyone under the age of thirteen. That seems to be his cutoff. If they’re teenagers or older, they’re free game. Anyone younger is off limits.”

“Yuni’s ten.” Reborn said with a frown.

“Are you sure?” Colonnello asked with a raised eyebrow. “Do any of us know her actual birthday? Verde, do you have a memory of Aria coming to you pregnant? She would probably have trusted you with keeping her pregnancy secret and making sure Yuni was born healthy, since you were the one to help engineer her safe delivery.”

“No.” Verde said with a frown. “Aria didn’t come to me in the future that won’t be. I was just as shocked as the rest of you that Yuni existed.”

“Are you saying she could have gone to Skull?” Lal asked with a frown. “Why would she? You said he hated her.”

“He did, but it wasn’t the same as the hatred he had for Luce or the one he seems to have for Yuni. It was… milder, something closer to annoyance than outright anger.” Colonnello paused as he thought it over. “Skull… his rage is different. For all he acts loud and obnoxious, when he falls into a rage, he’s quiet. It’s like some switch is thrown and all the humanity in him just turns off. He doesn’t seem to acknowledge anything, just has a goal to accomplish and will do anything to accomplish that goal. It… I was glad when he went down his rage was directed at Byakuran and his forces. I know I don’t have the skills or resources to stop him if he turned on me.”

“He has been pretty quiet lately.” Fon said with a frown. “Do you think Yuni has done something to anger him to a breaking point?”

“I think she did something in that future that won’t be.” Colonnello said with a frown. “Something he hasn’t forgotten. If she is older than ten, likely he was reserving judgement since the Yuni of the present could grow up differently than the Yuni of that future. But then she was suddenly here…”

“If that’s the case, what would have happened to the baby Yuni?” Lal asked with a frown. “Surely she can’t be in two places at once.”

“No,” Verde put in. “Yuni would have had to drain the Flames of her true present self to take her place. Otherwise we would have a situation like that Ghost Byakuran, Sawada talked about.”

There was a bit of stunned silence at that. They could understand Aria giving up her life to allow Yuni to cross timelines. But the thought of Yuni having to kill a baby, even if it was just her past self, to be there didn’t sit right with any of them.

If there was one universal rule among the Arcobaleno, it was no killing children or babies. Even Skull, despite going after adolescents at times, held that rule in high regard. Colonnello didn’t really know the reasons for the others, but he had seen enough bombed out homes in war zones to shy away from resorting to killing a child.

“So not only there’s a chance she did something to piss him off in that future, but she could now be responsible for erasing a child in his care.” Fon said having found his voice first.

“We’re going to need to have a chat with Yuni.” Reborn said with a frown. “Anything else you’ve observed?”

“Just some odd inconsistences in his act.” Colonnello said turning back around so he didn’t burn the food he was cooking. “He wasn’t always on the top of his game, though he got better at hiding it later. Things like forgetting to make noise when he walked or disappearing into a crowd when he was supposed to be drawing attention to himself. That and he’s been increasing the number and skill level of the minions he used to attack Mafia Land.”

“But the Carcassa collapsed.” Verde said with a frown.

“The rumors say he could have a hand in the collapse.” Reborn argued. “If he took their best and left the core to rot, it would explain why they were taken down so easily.”

“We might see them resurface as a new Famiglia.” Viper added calmly. “He could have been weeding out the less than desirable members to make sure the ones he liked can go on under a new banner.”

“So now we don’t even have a good starting point to look for him. I know he spent some time using his zeppelin as a base for a while, but I don’t recall him ever having a fixed address.” Fon said with a frown as Colonnello began dishing out breakfast.

“I can expand what we can dig up in his past.” Viper said simply. “Maybe someone there has kept in contact with him.”

“Colonnello and I will go speak with Yuni.” Reborn said with a frown. “We left her with the rest of the kids at the mansion since we couldn’t move her without risking waking Chrome-chan.”

“I’ll help Viper with the background.” Lal put in before Colonnello could protest about being dragged to a confrontation with the little Sky.

“That leaves Fon and I to dig up what we can about where Skull might be.” Verde said with a nod.

“Maybe Fon should go with you.” Colonnello put in. “She might think something is up if I go. She knows we don’t necessarily see eye to eye.”

“Lulling her into a false sense of safety might not be our best option.” Reborn said glaring him down. “If the two of us can’t get her to talk we’ll send Viper and Fon. The more she sees that we are united despite our differences the more she will likely realize how outmatched she is.”

Colonnello wanted to argue, but a hard look from Lal made him keep his mouth shut. He had a feeling Reborn wanted to talk to him about something. Yet, Colonnello wasn’t sure if he could stand being around Yuni at the moment.

He had noticed Skull’s increased agitation to the girl. Something was up and as much as Colonnello didn’t know about Skull, he was still more loyal to his Cloud than to the little Sky. But if she had information that could help them find their missing Cloud, then he supposed he had to swallow his agitation as well.

 

Colonnello found himself in a sleek black car after breakfast. Reborn was behind the wheel smoking a cigarette, something he often done before the curse or so Lal liked to say. The thick acrid scent did its best to mask the earthy scent of leather and the fresh scent of new car.

Namimori in summer was hot, making the car an odd mixture of sun warm and air conditioned cold. Colonnello had to admit that the car was nice since he could barely hear the A/C that was cranked up to max. They drove in silence, the radio turned off and the only sound was the purr of the supped-up engine.

If he remembered right, Skull had picked out the car on Reborn’s behalf. Something about the luxury wood panels and plush leather upholstery being so Reborn. In a way Colonnello definitely could say the car reminded him of the hitman, even to the fashionable yet somehow nondescript exterior.

It was a car that any high-end businessman might have without being overly flashy about it.

Still, Colonnello was tempted to push the button to roll down the warm tinted window next to him. Maybe then he could escape the stifling smell of cigarettes and cooled air. Or maybe he should turn on the radio to escape the silence as he tried not to bounce his leg.

“Where you going to confront Skull?” Reborn asked after finishing his cigarette.

“About what?” Colonnello almost snapped.

“About what you learned about him, his name, his act?” Reborn asked and Colonnello gave a half shrug.

“I wasn’t planning on anything yet.” Colonnello admitted softly. “A few vague plans in case it came up, but nothing really solid until I learned a bit more.”

There really was no point in lying to the hitman. Between Reborn and Skull, Colonnello could honestly say he was a horrible liar. Those two made lying a form of art and Colonnello couldn’t compete.

“So, what prompted the reveal last night?” Reborn asked almost sounding concerned. “You were surprised when that slipped out of your mouth.”

“I blame the tequila.” Colonnello huffed. “I could never stand the stuff.”

That got him a snort and even a bit of a smirk. Colonnello glanced over at his Sun for a moment and noticed the slightly contemplative look on the man’s face. It was still strange to see Reborn and the others in their adult forms, given Colonnello didn’t know any of them very well before the curse.

“What will you do if Skull has gotten his hands on the information pertaining to whatever missions you and Lal were on?” Reborn asked suddenly making Colonnello blink.

He thought it over during breakfast, while the others had been whispering about Skull. Had it been a few decades ago, Colonnello would have said screw the Mafia and gone straight to his commanding officers. But now, while the thought of Skull potentially getting such sensitive information still didn’t sit well with him, at least he had a sense that he could trust the Cloud.

“Probably ask him about how he got it and if he wouldn’t mind digging up some more information for me.” Colonnello said simply with a smirk. “If he does got access to the databases then what’s stopping him from causing havoc with law enforcement? There’s a few open cases I wouldn’t mind being tampered with, if only to get some heat off Tsunayoshi when he finally graduates and becomes the new don.”

Reborn hummed. “I thought you’d be more loyal to your country.”

“I was a soldier in COMSUBIN.” Colonnello sighed. “But that was years ago. Now I’m a Mafia soldier, my loyalties are different.”

“And if you had to chose between Yuni and Skull?”

“I’d choose Skull.” Colonnello said simply without hesitation.

There was a pause for a moment.

“Good.”

Reborn then switched on the radio and some Japanese pop song filled the car. Colonnello glanced at the Sun and noted how the man had relaxed. Even without saying it, Colonnello suspected he knew where Reborn’s loyalties lay.

Otherwise the rest of the car ride to the mansion was rather boring. Colonnello was still rather restless and the A/C wasn’t helping. At least the traffic was light, and they didn’t have to stop on their way to their destination.

“So, what’s the plan?” Colonnello asked as they pulled up to the mansion.

“Yuni has to catch her flight back to Italy. So, go in there, bring her out, and we’ll drive her to the airport. Like you said, she will be suspicious if we’re too forceful. But if we just act as if we’re making sure she gets to her flight on time, she won’t suspect a thing. We can do minor errands together without an attempted homicide.”

“And are we going to tell her about Skull?” Colonnello asked as Reborn pulled the car to a stop.

“Not unless she brings it up. Unlike Luce, Yuni can’t see Skull. Aria had a hard time seeing him as well, but Yuni isn’t nearly as skilled or as powerful as Luce had been.” Reborn said making Colonnello nod.

Stepping out of the car, Colonnello paused to take a breath of fresh air. He nearly choked on the faint scent of the city smog hanging in the thick heat. He couldn’t wait to get back to Mafia Land, but for now he headed up the steps at an easy pace.

Colonnello nearly laughed at the carnage he stepped into. All the kids were awake at least, with only the Varia in some form of coherence. They were sprawled all over the large den they had congregated in the night before, with what looked like a feast of fast food tossed about on every available surface.

Colonnello felt some sympathy, but it didn’t stop him from raising his fingers to his lips.

The loud piercing whistle made many of the kids roll away groaning.

It also made Colonnello step to the side to avoid the bullet coming at him thanks to Xanxus.

“Fucking trash!” The Varia leader roared at him.

Colonnello didn’t hide his grin. “Nice to know you’re such a morning person, kora!”

He dodged another bullet with practiced ease. Xanxus wasn’t even shooting straight, probably due to his hangover. Still it drew a terror filled squeal from Tsunayoshi who rolled under a table in the fetal position.

Colonnello took a second to consider whether the boy had PTSD yet.

“Uncle Colonnello,” Yuni pouted as she looked up at him through her bangs, “did you need something?”

“Yea! Reborn insists on seeing you get to the airport on time. Something about you catching a flight, kora.” Colonnello grinned. “He won’t spar with me until you make it safely to the airport!”

Squalo groaned, “How are you so loud? Shouldn’t you have a hangover? You guys made all of us look like lightweights last night.”

“My beautiful Lal tossed me into an invigorating cold shower this morning!” Colonnello cheered happily. “Some aspirin and a large breakfast also helped, kora.”

“Large breakfast? What time is it?” Yuni asked trying to peel herself off the love seat she was plastered to.

Colonnello checked his watch. “Quarter past eleven.”

“WHAT?!” Yuni nearly screamed as she shot up and nearly doubled over as she was sudden puking.

“Ew, gross!” Kyoko squealed as she moved to curl up behind her brother.

Colonnello felt his own nose wrinkle a little before shaking his head. He did a bout face and marched to the front door of the mansion. Yanking the door open he waved Reborn to come in, because he wasn’t going to be dealing with this mess on his own.

He could practically see the hitman sigh as the engine to the car shut off. Content his current mission partner was on his way, Colonnello sauntered back into he mansion. Someone had shoved a plastic waste bin into Yuni’s hands as she heaved.

Not a minute later, Reborn appeared with a small travel bag tossed over his shoulder. Colonnello caught the hitman’s look of disgust as the Sun surveyed the carnage. The affronted tsk said more than any words Reborn could probably come up with.

“That is most un-cute Yuni-chan.” Reborn chastised even as he brushed past Colonnello into the room. “Colonnello, go cook something she can eat on the way while I show Yuni-chan to the bathroom.”

“Oi! Don’t boss me around, kora. I’m only here because you promised we’ll spar after she gets on her flight.” Colonnello snapped but made his way towards the kitchen regardless.

It took less than ten minutes to cook up a simple breakfast sandwich, though he could tell the other kids were trying to lure him into making more. A few of them were superb with their puppy-dog eyes. But Colonnello didn’t have the time to fix them any since Reborn was practically frog marching Yuni towards the door in a new outfit.

Colonnello sent their disappointed looks a wave as he jogged toward the car. Yuni was carefully buckling herself into the back seat, while Reborn put her bag back in the trunk. Colonnello offered up the sandwich that was wrapped up in a bit of wax paper before he too buckled into the front seat.

Reborn was soon behind the wheel and they were off. The radio was set to a low volume, Yuni was in the back lightly eating her breakfast sandwich. Colonnello shifted as he carefully made sure the little fan blowing cold air was now directed to the window and not his face.

“You have to admit,” he said breaking the silence, “that was a pretty epic party last night.”

“It did have it’s high moments.” Reborn said with a smirk. “Perhaps we should arrange another one soon.”

“Yea, kora.” Colonnello said pausing to think. “But we can’t have a party without having a good reason. Celebrating something always makes parties a lot more fun.”

Colonnello glanced at the hitman out of the corner of his eye. Reborn was glancing in the review mirror at the girl in the back seat. Yuni was almost in a daze as she slowly chewed on her bites of sandwich.

“Oh! I know!” Colonnello grinned. “What about we get together for one of our birthdays? Probably not yours though, we would never get the lackey to come.”

“We can cross you and Lal off the list for the same reason.” Reborn huffed sounding offended.

“I know Viper’s birthday, but they’ll make us pay them to celebrate their birthday.” Colonnello said thoughtfully. “What about Fon?”

“I’m not sure.” Reborn frowned as if they didn’t have a way of finding out now. “Verde’s birthday is also not on record.”

“What about Skull’s birthday?” Colonnello blinked. “Do you think he’d duck out of his own birthday party?”

“If we’re throwing it.” Reborn grumbled making Colonnello snort.

Yes, if they threw Skull a birthday party the Cloud would definitely duck out of it.

“Kora! I know. Yuni! Yuni when’s your birthday?” He asked turning to look over his shoulder at the quiet Sky in the back seat.

“My birthday?” She asked blinking at him still seeming a bit dazed.

“Yea! If we’re going to have another big party like this, we should have something to celebrate. We can probably ask Verde when your birthday is but why don’t you just tell us now. I don’t want to be experimented on for information, kora.” He rattled off excitedly.

“January fifteenth.” She answered with a slight smile.

“Awesome! So, we have a few months to plan. How old are you going to be? I don’t remember ever getting to celebrate your birthday with you. If I remember right it was November when Byakuran took me down.” Colonnello said with a frown as he thought it over. He really hadn’t celebrated her birthday with her before.

Just where was Yuni before Aria died?

“I’m going to be fourteen.” Yuni mumbled blinking at him.

“Okay!” He cheered before turning to Reborn. “You hear that? We can plan to throw an epic party for Yuni in January. I bet we can top the one Sawada threw last night.”

Reborn huffed but smirked as if pleased by the information. The cool calculating look in the Sun’s eyes said otherwise. Even Colonnello could do the math and knew things didn’t add up.

Yuni would have been two years old when the curse broke if she was going to turn fourteen in January.

“Hey Yuni,” Colonnello piped up instead as he tossed another look over his shoulder at her, “do you know what has the lackey all riled up? Normally he’s okay with staying at a get together after we roughed him up a little. But last night he was sulking a lot worse than normal and left in a pretty bad huff.”

“Hibari and Uncle Reborn were a bit harsh on him last night.” Yuni said blinking at him.

“Well yea, but that’s normal. Okay usually it’s this bastard and me but I figured Hibari-chan was doing a good enough job. Still doesn’t explain what’s got his panties in a twist.” Colonnello said motioning at Reborn briefly to state his point.

“I’m not sure.” Yuni said with a frown. “I can’t really see him in my visions. I know there has been some talks about destabilization in the Famiglia he’s a part of, but I don’t know if that would affect him.”

“Ah, the only reason I ask is because it’s not like him.” Colonnello said with a frown. “He’s a pretty chill dude when he’s not being an obnoxious idiot. I think the only time I’ve seen him pissed off was when he and I got cornered by Byakuran’s forces. Now that was some pretty scary nightmare fuel. I wouldn’t wish a pissed off Skull on my worse enemies unless it was for a good reason. He punched threw a guy’s chest. Just up and shoved his fist straight through him and tossed the body to the side like it was garbage.”

Colonnello noticed Reborn glancing at the review mirror as he rambled.

“I mean that’s got to take some force.”

“But wasn’t he the size of a toddler?” Yuni asked softly drawing Colonnello’s attention.

“Nah, halfway through the fight his pacifier seemed to crack a little and fall off. It was kind of like those watches we got in the trial. He was standing all tall and what not but also scary as all hell since he was practically engulfed in Cloud Flames. He looked like some sort of demon come to earth to wreak havoc on his enemies. It’s how he went down in the end, just overpowered the pacifier a bit too much and his Flames just turned him into ash.”

“Oh,” Yuni gulped looking pale in the review mirror.

“But don’t worry. The lackey will just sort out his problems and probably come crawling back to whine to Fon about it all. Those two have always been on good speaking terms. I heard he was closer to Viper though, before Viper split.” Colonnello paused in his ramblings to toss her a grin over his shoulder.

“Unless of course you know why he’s upset and are just not telling us.” Reborn cut in smoothly. “If it affects more than one of us, the rest of us should be informed. We might be the last generation of Arcobaleno, but we still have to show a united front.”

“Um, no, Uncle Reborn, I don’t know what’s going on with him.” Colonnello noticed the slight flicker of displeasure on the hitman’s face. “I’m sure whatever it is, Skull-nii will figure it out peacefully and tell us about it later. Mama’s journals always said he was a bit more emotional than the rest of you.”

“Well that’s true.” Colonnello agreed to the last part with a grin. “The lackey has always been a bit more of a crybaby.”

“Perhaps we should put him through a bit more re-training.” Reborn offered thoughtfully. “These last few years could have made him soft. The last thing we need is for the lackey to do something even more foolish than normal and bring down our status because of it.”

“We can always drag him to Mafia Land.” Colonnello said with a grin.

The rest of the ride to the airport was filled with talks about training their lackey. Neither Reborn nor Colonnello were serious, though it would be better to get a real gage on Skull’s fighting ability, but they weren’t about to let Yuni in on that fact. Instead Colonnello staid with the car as Reborn gently hustled Yuni off for her flight.

When the hitman came back, Colonnello shifted a bit at the frown he wore.

“Yuni-chan should know just how un-cute it is to lie to my face like that.” Reborn muttered darkly as he started the engine.

“So, she does know what’s up with Skull.” Colonnello said with a sigh. “How bad do you think it is?”

“It would depend on why Skull ran off. There is a chance he could have run off because of our past behavior.” Reborn said his knuckles turning white in the steering wheel.

“I don’t think that’s it.” Colonnello said simply with a frown. “I mean right after we were cursed, he did fine on his own. So, if he wanted to get away, he probably could have done something like what Viper did. He did spend a lot of time with Verde when we were trying to break the curse after all.”

“He would have had better access to those Flame suppressant chains.” Reborn relaxed with a nod. “So, if it wasn’t our behavior, it has to be something else.”

“Either tied to something around the curse or something Yuni did in that future.” Colonnello said with a sigh pulling his bandana further over his eyes. “I still don’t know why he agreed to work with you guys. He should have walked as soon as he realized you were all Mafia or in Lal’s case, a mercenary.”

“You mean poising as a mercenary, since it seems she was still supposed to be active duty.” Reborn corrected making Colonnello snort.

“Yea, sure. I told her not to take intel up on that mission. Something about the parameters never sat right with me. Who goes in without backup and a vague way to contact their handler? It was all sketchy.” Colonnello said getting a hum from Reborn.

“You are right though.” Reborn said drawing Colonnello from his slowly resurfacing memories. “As a civilian Skull should have backed out the moment, he knew we were Mafia. Civilians don’t tend to jump into the Mafia blindly like that, especially on missions where they are essentially dropped into the deep end and told to swim. Skull never even tried to back out.”

“What do you think the Checker Face had on him?” Colonnello asked softly. “The rest of you I get. Even Lal was there because of her dedication to her mission. But Skull…”

“As far as we could tell at the time, he was just an idiot kid with no real ties to anything. We knew about his stunt shows but he didn’t quite have the name recognition in Italy.” Reborn said with a frown.

“He didn’t tour much in Europe. If you guys were in America that would be a different story.” Colonnello said thoughtfully. “He grew a big audience in the mid-west at first. Following carnival and local fair circuits to put on his stunt shows. He made the jump from shows to Hollywood after he got pretty big for a snowmobile stunt, he did at a winter festival. It got national news coverage and a director reached out to see if he knew anything about stunt coordinating.”

“And how did that go?” Reborn asked curiously.

“He apprenticed for a bit with some of the retiring stunt coordinators before putting together his own company. He also did a lot of work with special effects studios to help make the stunts more polished. He even doubled for a bit as he went to a proper acting school. One of his biggest breaks was when a Chinese film company asked if he would be willing to go to Hong Kong to help with a major production. He spent five years there learning how to choreograph fight scenes with Bruce Lee’s company.”

Reborn hummed thoughtfully. “I always wondered where he had picked up marital arts. Fon says he’s well trained in the forms he knows.”

“He didn’t just stay in Hong Kong for those five years. He was working on multiple projects, often jumping from country to country to get them done. I’m pretty sure at the time he was staying almost exclusively in Taiwan, but I never got that verified.” Colonnello said with a shrug.

“I doubt Checker Face had told him we were a production company or something.” Reborn sighed. “He never brought any of that up and certainly didn’t seem to not understand what he was being dragged into. I wouldn’t be surprised if we find out he knew something of the Mafia before he was supposedly formally introduced to it.”

“I also doubt he was trying to break into anything in Europe.” Colonnello said with a frown. “The producer I talked to said he was leery of going to Europe for film shoots. He apparently didn’t like being close to the communist bloc.”

“Interesting.” Reborn said before turning the car to pull into the drive of the safe house. “Well let’s go see what the others dug up.”

Colonnello sighed before leaving the car. He wondered how this all blew up like it did and why none of them were prepared for it. But as he followed Reborn into the house, Colonnello knew that wherever this took them they would all be stronger for it.

Most thought of the Sky Arcobaleno when they thought of the Arcobaleno. The Guardians, the six (seven because he always included Lal no matter what) that had lived through the curse the longest, they weren’t as well celebrated. Then again, most made the wrong assumption that the Guardians weren’t Harmonized to each other and that they listened to the Sky Arcobaleno.

Most didn’t know that technically it was the Sun that was the leader. Most didn’t know that despite their violent tendencies, the others would band together to protect each other because only they could be violent with each other. Most didn’t know that despite all the secrets they kept from each other, that didn’t make them any less family.

Colonnello just hoped that was a sentiment shared by his Cloud. He hoped that when they finally did track the man down, Skull didn’t get too angry if they worked to unmask him once and for all. He hoped that the reason Skull brought up their real names, it wasn’t to cause strife between them but to keep them on the same level footing they had maintained for years.

Colonnello also hoped that his curiosity hadn’t written out his death certificate without him knowing, because he wasn’t lying when he said he knew he wouldn’t be able to go against an enraged Skull.


	4. Touching Base

When they got into the house, Colonnello wasn’t surprised to see the living area had become something of an overrun office. In just the few hours they had been away somehow two desks had appeared and there were no less than four whiteboards. There were growing stacks of papers and manila folders on a few surfaces and someone had ordered take out already.

“Ah! You’re back.” Fon said looking up from a folder he was reading from. “How did things go with Yuni?”

“She was born January fifteenth.” Reborn said darkly. “And is going to be turning fourteen.”

“So, she really did jump across the timelines after she was born.” Verde said with a frown. “Likely Skull knew the moment baby Yuni collapsed from having her Flames drained. He did seem hesitant when Checker Face offered us a way out of the curse.”

“I don’t think he considered that Yuni would jump timelines.” Viper said calmly half reading something. “That Lightning, Gamma, said Aria had left a month or two before the Vongola went to the future. She wasn’t really considered missing until…”

Silence reigned for a moment and Colonnello turned to look at the suddenly still Mist. Viper was staring at a printout they had been reading, their hand shaking ever so slightly. Colonnello frowned as he wondered what was so shocking for Viper to trail off like that.

“What is it?” Reborn asked.

“He was married.” Viper whispered their hand tightened on the printout they were holding until the paper crinkled. “Skull was married before the curse.”

“What?!” Lal asked snatching the paper out of the Mist’s hand. Viper hissed as they got a paper cut but otherwise didn’t seem to move.

“Tragedy at the Green River Ranch,” Lal read off with a frown. “As previously reported the wildfire that started in, blah, blah. Authorities have since been able to reach the road leading to the ranch of prominent stunt coordinator Alexis Damian which he shares with his wife Nikita, famous animal trainer, and their three young children. They report that the ranch took a direct hit after being cut off from the main road last Wednesday. Inside they found the charred remains of one adult female…” Lal paused to take a breath. “One adult female and three children, assumed to be Nikita Damian and her children: Anthony, age five, Cora, age three, and Serena, age four months. Confirmation has yet to be decided…”

“Does it say why Skull wasn’t there?” Verde asked softly pushing up his glasses.

“Uh,” Lal read over the article again, “yea, yes. Alexis Damian is currently in Quebec, Canada as they shoot on location for this year’s up and coming action movie, blah, blah, blah.”

“Twenty Euro says he wasn’t in Quebec.” Colonnello said with a frown. “Do they say how the fire started?”

“Not in this article.” Lal said lowering the paper before turning to Viper who still hadn’t moved. Lal gave them a small but forceful shake. “Hey, are you okay? Come on, we have to track down the cause of a wildfire.”

“Huh, yea, yea okay.” Viper said snapping out of whatever they were thinking of. “We probably should hunt down their marriage license and anything else pertaining to Nikita.”

Still no one seemed to move for a long second. Colonnello shifted on his feet as he thought of Skull being married, not only that but married with kids. Did Checker Face know?

“Do you think Luce knew?” Colonnello asked almost quietly to Reborn because the Sun had been the closest to their first Sky.

“I’m not sure.” Reborn said after a long second. “She might not have. But she also didn’t act like she knew about the curse until after.”

“Do you think he’d go after Skull’s family to get him to join the Arcobaleno?” Colonnello asked after taking a breath.

Reborn hummed and was silent for a second. “He might have. He was rather insistent when recruiting a few of us.”

“I remember how listless Skull had been during our first meeting.” Fon piped up with a frown as he tucked his hands into his overly large sleeves. “I wrote it off as him being stunned due to finding himself in a meeting with criminals. But now I wonder if his reaction had more to do with what he went through before meeting us.”

“Lal,” Reborn almost barked grabbing her attention.

“Yea?”

“What’s the date of that article?” Reborn asked making the others turn to her again.

“January sixteenth, nineteen seventy-nine.” She read off with a frown. “That’s only a couple of months before we met.”

“It’s also roughly a month and a half before Alexis Damian supposedly died of an overdose.” Colonnello said with a frown. “The articles about it mentioned some sort of personal tragedy but never mentioned a ranch or wildfire.”

“But he didn’t die of an overdose.” Reborn said with a frown.

“Do you think by then Checker Face had his hands on Skull?” Colonnello asked with a frown of his own. “That or Skull faked his death before meeting up with you guys.”

“But why would he fake his death?” Verde asked with a frown. “He could have tried to overdose. If that was the case when we catch up with him, we should have Fon feed him some Storm Flames. Skull’s Cloud Flames don’t necessarily eliminate foreign substances in his body. Instead they prorogate his natural antibodies to deal with whatever it is that has entered his system.”

“Potentially increasing whatever is currently in his system.” Reborn said with a frown. “Storm Flames would trigger a purging of his system if they’re introduced.”

“How many times have we poisoned him?” Colonnello asked suddenly looking around. “I know I tried at least once to see if he would react. Nothing too serious and not one of the heavy metals.”

“I have poisoned him on numerous occasions.” Verde said thoughtfully. “Mostly for science, some of the substances were used to try and gauge the effectiveness of new Flame suppressant substances. Though a few ingredients might have lingered, I never checked. An oversight on my part.”

Reborn was frowning. “I slipped him a few things as well. He has never shown any signs of heavy metal poisoning.”

“Reborn,” Lal sighed, “he is covered head to toe in either makeup or racing gear. It doesn’t help that his hair is naturally purple. I doubt the normal symptoms of heavy metal poisoning apply.”

Reborn didn’t cringe, but a shift in his Flames gave him away. Colonnello shook his head almost fondly as he went over to the corner that Verde and Fon made. Already they had a growing pile of possible leads but so far none of it seemed to be going anywhere.

The others quietly ignored the tongue-lashing Lal was giving Reborn in the background.

“So, any leads?” He asked leaning against the desk, careful not to dislodge any papers else Verde would probably bite his head off.

Fon had gone back to reading from the folder he had been holding when they arrived. Verde however was busily typing away on a computer, keys clacking in a furious rhythm that reminded Colonnello of a rattle snake. They had a white board as a backdrop, and already there was a map with several dots indicating this or that location, as well as several other papers stuck to it with magnets.

The haste scrawls in English and Chinese on the few spaces of clear board just added a few more notes to what the two were doing.

“Not as of yet.” Fon said softly with a frown. “We’ve been looking into the collapse of the Carcassa. That many people don’t go missing overnight.”

“Hoping to find if they all went to one location?” Colonnello asked with a frown.

“It would help us track them down at least. They might know where Skull has disappeared to, or at least how to contact him.” Fon said with a mild shrug. “I know he was teaching at least two Clouds within the Carcassa. Reborn wasn’t pleased by the news when he found out, but Skull hadn’t stopped.”

“Defying Reborn, that’s a first.” Colonnello said with a snort. Skull didn’t defy them when given orders.

“No, he did it a few times before we were cursed.” Fon said with a smile. “I remember one time he purposely got captured by a rival Famiglia. Something about testing his abilities to escape. But Reborn rushed in to save him and the two got into a fight about it.”

“He was testing himself?” Colonnello felt his eyebrows rise.

“He wasn’t Mafia.” Verde intoned dully. “He had to figure out what he was capable of. Reborn was just a worrywart that didn’t like letting the kid out of his sight for too long. It doesn’t surprise me that he went into tutoring up and coming Mafia dons.”

“But he was testing himself.” Colonnello pointed out as his mind turned over that fact. “He did that once or twice with me when I first started working at Mafia Land.”

“Really?” Fon asked looking up from his file again to pin Colonnello with a curious stare.

“Yea, I caught him a few times lurking on the island.” Colonnello said as he recalled the first time, he spotted Skull on the island. “He didn’t go through any of the ports of entry and there weren’t any indications how he got there. He was just lounging near a pool drinking juice out of a crystal glass with a twisty straw. The guys in charge nearly tore me a new one for the security breach.”

“Yet he did it again?” Fon asked blinking.

“A handful of times, then the boats came.” Colonnello said with a frown. “It was a few months after Reborn forced him to join the Carcassa. It was their first attack and well… I did a complete security overhaul after we kicked them off the island. I’m not even sure how he got his hands on the blueprints of our security systems.”

“You know,” Fon piped up, “after we were cursed, when we left Reborn’s safehouse, our paths crossed a few times.”

“Even before we managed to catch up to him?” Verde asked pausing to looking over at the martial artist.

“Yea,” Fon said with a frown. “We were pitted against each other in a few underground fighting tournaments. He never won but he gave a good fight. I always thought he wasn’t quite as adjusted to his new form as I was but now, I wonder.”

“About what?” Colonnello asked curiously.

“Do you remember what they were saying about our generation of Arcobaleno when we finally resurfaced?” Fon asked with a serious frown.

“That we were the strongest in generations.” Colonnello said remembering that tidbit of information alright. It had opened a lot of doors that would have been hard to get through otherwise.

“Think about it. Skull was the first of us to disappear. The rest of us stuck together until we were at least comfortable in our new bodies. Yet when we finally went our separate ways, we already had the standing we would have gotten if we had to fight for it.” Fon said making even Verde frown.

“Are you saying Skull was running around building our image up so we would have an even easier time to adjust?” Colonnello asked thinking that to be a bit preposterous.

“He could have made it work.” Verde said simply. “He was the unknown civilian. It wouldn’t be hard to claim that he was sent out to prove himself to us. But I don’t know what he could have been doing to show off.”

“We didn’t encounter as many hitmen sent to test us as we anticipated.” Fon pointed out simply. “Clearly he is more capable than we have been giving him credit for. He’s even more skilled than he has been willing to show us. If he was establishing himself as the weakest it would make sense that when we finally got onto the scene most would be wary of us.”

“Not to mention a few of you already had some pretty nasty reputations.” Colonnello pointed out remembering the fear Reborn and Fon generated. “Couple that with a powerful Cloud that’s a bit of a crybaby because he’s a civilian and the weakest, no wonder we weren’t as challenged as we were supposed to be.”

“And if he was testing himself prior to the curse,” Verde put in grimly, “he would know just how far to go to continue the act without slipping. I’m still surprised I never even had an inkling he wasn’t being truthful in how he presented himself.”

“I’m not.” Colonnello said with a huff. “He outright told us that he was a stuntman. He might as well have told us he was an actor. I didn’t really understand what that meant until a few weeks ago when I finally caught on that his act with Reborn is and has always been the same since I’ve known them.”

“It has, hasn’t it.” Fon said grimly. “And now this,” he gave a vague wave around the room, “we find out he knew who we were and all we have on him is a professional history and the possibility that he might have been married with children.”

“I’ve been finding a few more inconstances as well.” Verde said with a sigh as he took off his glasses to rub his eyes. “His financial records are a mess, not least in part to Viper’s greed. He has managed to declare bankruptcy almost ten times in the last thirty years. Not to mention he seems to have been getting a lot of money from some insurance scams that are so convoluted I might have Reborn look at them to check the math. At this point I don’t know if he’s a millionaire or so far in debt he could set a world record.”

“Are those just the accounts we know?” Fon asked blinking at the scientist.

“IF he has any accounts we don’t know about, I’m going to strangle him the next time I can lay my hands on him.” Verde said darkly making Colonnello snort.

“But there is one lead we can track down now, if you’re up for a ride across the city.” Fon said turning to Colonnello calmly.

“Sure, what is it?” Colonnello said deciding that it would be better than having to deal with any more drama that might be lurking in Skull’s past.

“Skull has been keeping an apartment here in Namimori. Apparently, it was to help keep an eye on the Simon when they need him.” Fon said standing up and waving to Reborn who was hovering over some files that had both Viper and Lal frowning.

“You talk to the Simon?” Colonnello asked as they headed for the door.

“Not yet,” Fon said with a smile, “they’re still hungover after all.”

 

 

Skull’s Namimori apartment was in a rather nice part of the neighborhood. It bordered on the shopping district, making it a few minutes’ walk to the busier side of downtown were most of the bars were. But still out of the way enough that a few local families happily took up residents there.

Somehow Fon had a key to the place, Colonnello suspected his connections to the Hibari family, so they easily entered the apartment without alerting the neighbors.

The first thing that struck Colonnello was how minimalistic it was. With his personality, Colonnello always suspected he’d walk into Skull’s living space to find it crammed and in disarray. But despite being rather western in furniture choice, there was very little that said anyone actually staid there.

The furniture was black leather, the tables were glass toped, and shiny metal seemed to be the standard. There was an expensive large sleek flat screen television sitting prominent in front of the large couch and there was also a fifty-gallon fish tank next to a wall. Colonnello suspect that the living room was where Skull spent most of his time since in a corner was also a spot set up to store and work on a motorcycle.

The large freight elevator up to the third story apartment would come in handy to shuttle the vehicle on and off the street.

Outside of those few things, everything else seemed to be standard Japanese. Everything from the small area for their shoes, to the kitchenette attached to the living room. There were three other doors to the apartment, the washroom, and maybe two bedrooms.

“So, what are we doing here?” Colonnello asked as he carefully slipped around Fon to inspect the kitchenette. There were no signs of any mail laying about on the breakfast counter and there was no food in the cupboards or fridge.

“He came here before leaving for the airport.” Fon said eyeing the empty fish tank. “There likely won’t be anything, but we can’t leave this uninvestigated.”

“Makes sense.” Colonnello said moving to the three doors and pausing.

Colonnello had never really entered the houses of his fellow Arcobaleno before. He knew he had a standing invitation to at least Fon’s residence in Beijing, but never took the man up on an offer to stay. It always seemed a bit too personal for him to show up and barge in.

That didn’t mean he didn’t use a few open safehouses the others had though. Even Skull had a handful of houses they could crash in if necessary. But for the most part they had their own separate places and didn’t invade them.

Unless of course it was Verde. Everyone barged into the scientist’s lab where he was a permanent resident at least once. The trick was visiting without being experimented on, something Colonnello still didn’t know how to accomplish so kept his visits minimal.

Just being in one of Skull’s apartments that didn’t have an open invitation made Colonnello a bit uneasy. His eyes flickered around, searching for cameras that likely weren’t there. So far Skull didn’t seem like the type to boobytrap his home, but then again Skull was also the one the Arcobaleno recruited to test their own traps.

Colonnello didn’t want to know if somehow Skull managed to take what he learned from Colonnello’s own traps and combined them with something horrific Reborn came up with.

Taking a breath, he steeled himself and reached out for the first door on his right. There were no trip wires he could see and as he pushed it open it revealed a simple bedroom. He paused for a second before slipping around the door to get a better look at the room he revealed.

A queen-sized bed covered in white sheets, a glass topped side table with a sleek silver table lamp, a black dresser pushed up against a wall next to a silver and black vanity. Colonnello knew Skull liked his cosmetics so the four mirrored vanity with built in lights wasn’t all that surprising. But the clean surfaces and large space free of anything kind of was.

Slipping further into the room, Colonnello pushed open the sliding door to a small closet. Inside, neatly organized, was two weeks’ worth of clothes. Likely for emergencies as most of them were just white shirts and black jeans, with two sets of black boots tucked at the bottom, steel-toed and combat respectively.

There were no smudges on the vanity mirrors, and the dresser lacked any knickknacks on display. Even the shiny door handle seemed to lack any smudges of fingerprints that Colonnello hadn’t put there himself. With the white walls of the room and dark wood flooring, the whole place had a slightly clinical appeal that Colonnello wouldn’t peg on Skull.

“Think it’s messier when he’s here?” Colonnello asked Fon who was eyeing the bedroom as well.

“No,” Fon replied lightly with a smile, “Skull has always been surprisingly organized. He even organizes his makeup a certain way when he unpacks it. Just don’t touch it when it’s out.”

“Bad experience?” Colonnello asked wondering how close Fon and Skull really were.

“You could say that. He wouldn’t talk to me for a month afterwards, no matter how many times I tired apologizing.” Fon said with a fond smile. “Eventually you and Reborn got too much without a listening ear, so he caved and called me.”

“The two of you are pretty close, kora.” Colonnello noted as he crossed his arms.

“Yet you were the one to see through his act.” Fon shot back. “I’ve spent quite a few years trying to get to know him better. I always thought it a bit unfair to drop a civilian into our life without any assistance on our part.”

Colonnello hummed and slipped out of the bedroom. Being in there made him a tad bit uncomfortable since he didn’t know Skull that well. It felt like an invasion of privacy and Colonnello figured they had done enough to the Cloud to allow him some space.

The next door was a rather standard washroom for the apartment complex. There was a small tub and a sectioned off spot for the toilet. Even here there was something oddly impersonal about the place that Colonnello couldn’t put his finger on.

The last room however was surprising. It was sectioned down the middle with one side being dedicated to a nice dark wood desk and file cabinets. The other side was a small gym with weights and several apparatuses Colonnello figured a gymnast would have.

Ignoring the gym equipment, Colonnello headed over to the cleared desk with another sleek silver lamp resting on top of it. Sitting down on the plush black leather desk chair, Colonnello tried the drawers of the desk. He frowned as he noticed they were locked but he had a set of lockpicks, so it wasn’t too much of a problem.

The first drawer he checked was unsurprisingly filled with office supplies. Nothing too noteworthy as he carefully poked around extra pens, paperclips, and a stapler. Still he could easily see everything did have a place and he was careful to make sure to not mess up that organization.

A slight rattling sound made him look over to find Fon had decided to try an open the filing cabinets. The dark metal drawers were also locked. But Fon was already picking the lock to get to whatever was inside.

Turning back to the desk, Colonnello was impressed and mildly disappointed to find very little of value. There were a few papers tucked neatly into one of the drawers, but it seemed to be just the rental agreement for the apartment. He was however surprised to find Skull had used the name Hisoka Honda on his rental agreement.

He made sure to write down the information in case they could use it to track down Skull.

Then he noticed it. The two large drawers at the bottom didn’t seem as deep as they should be. So, after some poking around, Colonnello managed to pry open the false bottoms.

In the drawer on the right Colonnello was stunned to find four handguns neatly tucked away. He remembered the days when Skull adamantly refused to even be close to them if they had a weapon present. It wasn’t _Skull_ ’s style to use a gun.

Taking a moment to inspect the weapons he was impressed. They were well maintained for what appeared to likely be backup weapons. Colonnello could tell they had also been cleaned recently, likely before Skull left for the party if he knew he was on a time limit when he left.

Setting the guns back carefully, Colonnello turned to the drawer on the left. Inside the false bottom, lined up neatly, were four rows of cellphones. They were sitting on their edges, packed together to fit without being too suspicious.

“Burn phones.” Fon muttered looking into the drawer with a frown. “Why would he have so many?”

“Do you think any of them work?” Colonnello asked as he eased one of the phones out of its row. It was a cheap knock-off of one of the high-end phones on the market. Likely no one would know the difference at a distance, meaning it would work well for any sort of act Skull was pulling at the time.

“Perhaps,” Fon said with a frown. “Do you think he wouldn’t mind us borrowing them?”

“He might.” Colonnello said eyeing the phone he was holding. “But then again, he might just complain if I took them and we leave your involvement out of it.”

“Then you should take at least one of the guns to show Reborn.” Fon said with a smile.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea or not.” Colonnello asked even as he grabbed a Glock 22 from the other drawer.

“Check to see if the other drawers are hiding something as well.” Fon said even as he turned back to the filing cabinets. “I think whatever he was storing here has been coded somehow. Most of these files are for a German investment firm looking to expand into the Asian market.”

“That doesn’t seem too out of the ballpark.” Colonnello said even as he managed to find then pop open a hidden compartment in the supply drawer. “Well would you look what I found.”

The thin sleek laptop he eased out from under the carefully arranged office supplies was new to the market. It wasn’t a tablet like he had first thought but it was slim enough to be one if he could flip the keyboard around. Still he placed it on the top of the desk and looked to turn it on.

“I bet Verde will have a field day with this.” Fon said with a smile leaning over as the screen booted up. “And the files are suspicious since most of them are backlogged to the nineties even if they seemed to have been recently altered.”

“We should have brought a box.” Colonnello sighed looking at the cabinets.

“We can bring one on our next trip over. We do have a key to the apartment after all.” Fon said with a grin.

Colonnello turned slightly to find his Storm almost resting on his shoulder looking like a pleased cat. He wondered how bored Fon had been in China to find this so interesting. Then again there wasn’t much going on in Mafia Land that Colonnello might be dragging his feet to get back to work.

“Fon.” Colonnello began hesitantly only to get a hum. “When we meet up with Skull again, do you think you can talk him down when he realizes I touched his stuff?”

“I will do my best.” Fon said playfully messing up Colonnello’s hair as he pushed away and back to the file cabinets.

Neither of them acknowledged that the laptop was currently asking for a password they didn’t have. Instead Colonnello sighed as he closed the laptop and turned back to the desk for any more hidden compartments. The only other interesting thing Colonnello found in the desk was a set of keys, but he didn’t know where they went, so he handed them over to Fon for now.

 

 

Later that night, Colonnello collapsed on his designated bed in Reborn’s safehouse. The safehouse itself was a mansion compared to most Japanese homes in the area. Four bedrooms, two baths, a two-car garage, plus a good size front and back yard.

It did however coincide with Reborn’s image of put together Western businessman. So, the neighbors likely didn’t question the fact that Reborn owned the most expensive house on the block. They probably didn’t even think twice of the others staying there after Viper went out to do a little gardening.

The others were still downstairs going though everything. Lal and Viper had managed to dig up Skull’s marriage license earlier, making it official. Skull had been married with kids before they were cursed.

So far Viper managed to dig up that Nikita Kane had been an up and coming animal trainer before her marriage to Alexis Damian. The two apparently met during a Western film shoot in Arizona, Skull being the stunt coordinator and Nikita being the animal trainer. She would later go on to be one of the most demanded trainers in Hollywood during her time.

They even dug up an old black and white photo of a beautiful young woman with light curling natural hair and a large warm smile. She was distinctly Nordic and tall standing next to an elephant. Colonnello had to admit Skull had scored well on that catch.

Even Reborn had snorted and said it was a pity they hadn’t gotten to meet her.

Lal and Viper didn’t seem as impressed but let that slide. All Lal would say was that Nikita at least had the decency to look fit. Viper was noticeably silent, almost glaring at the photo.

They also found out that the Green River Ranch had been a wedding present from Skull to his young wife. It was a primarily a horse ranch, but Nikita had used it to also keep her animals she trained. So far everything they could dig up pointed to the two having a happy marriage.

They had also dug up photos of Skull’s kids. Just three newspaper photos that had been attached to the article about authorities declaring the trio dead along with their mother. They were morbid photos for just three bright smiling faces, or in the case of Anthony scowling.

Anthony looked a lot like Skull, right down to his dark hair and dark eyes. Verde suspected Anthony had inherited either Skull’s purple hair and eyes or some variant of. Even the kid’s little scowl was eerily like the same scowl Skull had when they were cursed.

Cora was a beautiful mix of both her parents. She had Skull’s dark hair with what was likely Nikita’s pale eyes. Her little smile lit up her face as she seemed to be swinging on a swing set.

Serena’s photo was probably her baby photo. A pale haired, pale eyed little bundle swathed in cloth. She had the newborn tired look of irritation but there was a hint of a smile.

Colonnello didn’t say anything when he noticed the others each slipping copies of the three photos away. Even now he pulled out his copies as he looked over the trio of tiny faces. He wondered if things had been different, would Skull have introduced them to his family.

Colonnello wondered if they would have grown up calling him uncle. It wouldn’t surprise the Rain if the scowling mini-Skull turned out to have Cloud Flames. The five-year-old looked eerily similar in temperament to a certain Vongola Cloud they all knew.

Colonnello knew without question that Cora and Serena would have been smothered in protections. Reborn wouldn’t allow for any less, and Verde would probably insist on tutoring all three himself. Colonnello suspected he wouldn’t have been the only one up in arms when the two girls hit puberty either.

Cora looked like she would grow up to be gorgeous with a vivacious personality. The type of girl that attracted far too many boys. It almost made Colonnello’s heart ache for the what ifs.

Slipping the little photos away for now, Colonnello stretched and got comfortable on the bed. He and Lal were assigned the same room, not that either would complain. Still Lal was downstairs refusing to rest until she knew everything she could about Skull’s life before he was an Arcobaleno.

Colonnello knew he’d be hearing about all of it later. So, he had gone upstairs to get some rest in case they needed someone to run errands later. It also meant he could get away from the slight stifling feeling in the room with the others.

Even though he knew they really didn’t, he had a sinking feeling in his stomach that they blamed him for chasing off their Cloud. He also knew Skull wasn’t really planning on staying around much longer anyway. He wasn’t certain how he knew, but there was just something about the growing irritation Skull exhibited that suggested the Cloud would run.

Even looking over his apartment earlier suggested that Skull was already preparing to disappear for a while. Most of the files they were pulling from the place were bogus. But a few detailed some of what the Carcassa had been up to leading to their split.

It took some digging, but Verde was starting to uncover a pharmaceutical trafficking rink Skull’s group of minions were running. It ran parallel to the illicit drugs that the main family were into. It was the more profitable business since it seemed Skull had been purposely screwing with the other shipments under the nose of the don.

Also, a part of the business was relocating people that wanted to disappear. Skull had taken over the human trafficking group in the Carcassa and reworked the structure to fit his needs. The only strange inconsistency was the number of people he was shuffling through the Middle East, mostly Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates.

Colonnello suspected they were working as indentured slaves, not uncommon in that part of the world. Though these days they weren’t necessarily called indentured slaves. There was still a big slave market though.

All of that was fine, but it didn’t point to any location that Skull would likely go to lay low. All that it showed was that the split was months in the making. Skull was at the head of the split but there were a few other unknowns helping him.

Rolling onto his side, Colonnello ran a hand over his face with a sigh. His racing thoughts made it hard for him to get some rest. He knew they would need someone to go question the kids later, something he could do without being too intimidating.

But he wouldn’t be doing them any favors if he showed up looking like a zombie.

He really was trying to drift off. But the still restless energy inside of him wouldn’t let him get comfortable. He flopped about on the very comfortable mattress a few times before ending up staring at the ceiling with a defeated sigh.

Closing his eyes, he was about to resign himself to skulking back downstairs. He was sure the others would have something for him to do. But he couldn’t quite pull himself off the bed to resign himself to the stifling room awaiting him.

Which is why he was surprised when he heard a soft vibrating sound fill the room. Opening his eyes, he scowled into the darkness of the room trying to pinpoint the sound. During the fourth low pulse, he snapped his head in the direction of his discarded pants.

He almost landed on his face as he scrambled to get to where he had tossed his clothes in a heap. Doing his best to silently shuffle across the wooden floor, he made it to his pants and began digging through the many pockets. Two more low vibrations and he had to muffle his shout of triumph as he pulled a phone out from the heap of cloth.

He didn’t even look at the caller ID as he hit the accept button. As he put the phone to his ear, he noted that it was one of the phones he had taken from Skull’s apartment. His own phone was plugged in on the side table near the bed.

“I ought to jump on the first flight back to Japan just to kick you in the balls.” A low growling hiss came over the receiver making Colonnello cringe.

“S-Skull?!” He nearly squeaked in a whispering tone.

“No shit! Damn it Colonnello! What were you doing at my place?! How’d you even get in?!”

“Woah, woah, back up. How’d you know I was there?” Colonnello asked hastily as he glanced at the closed door to the room. He couldn’t hear anyone coming up the steps but that didn’t mean much with the likes of Fon and Reborn lurking about.

“Do you really think I didn’t put some protections in place? Where’d you get a key?” Skull hissed still sounding ready to punch something.

“Fon got the key. I was just asked to go see if we couldn’t find anything to tell us where you went.” Colonnello defended.

“Fon was there?” Skull snapped in surprise.

“Yea.”

There was a long minute of silence. Colonnello was trying to puzzle out how Skull knew the Rain had been there but not Fon. He also figured Skull was reeling to find out Fon had been there as well.

“So, um,” Colonnello broke first, “Viper’s been digging since finding out your name.”

“Are you going to give me another reason to teabag your corpse when I finally get my hands on you?”

“No?” Colonnello shifted. “But well, we found out about Nikita. I figured I should at least give you a heads up.”

“And what about her?” Skull sighed sounding almost sad, not that Colonnello blamed him.

“Just basic stuff the last time I checked. You know, how you two were married, about the wildfire, her job as an animal trainer. They even dug up an old black and white of her next to an elephant. She was quite the catch, but not nearly as beautiful as Lal.”

“You would say that.” Skull snorted. “So, you know about the ranch.”

“Yea, and your kids.” Colonnello found himself blurting out. “The pictures in the newspaper made them look adorable. I swear that bastard Reborn was disappointed he couldn’t be their uncle. Something about how your daughters would have needed proper protection growing up.”

“Like hell I’d let that bastard within ten countries of my angels.” Skull sniffed making Colonnello chuckle.

“Like that would stop him.” Colonnello shot back with a grin. “So, where are you?”

Skull gave a noncommittal grunt. “Places.”

“The others insist on tracking you down.” Colonnello said thinking of the command center a story below him. “I think we’re all overdue a long talk.”

Skull’s response was guarded, “Talk about what exactly?”

“I know you got some sort of beef with Yuni. And, I’m beginning to get the idea that it’s for a good reason. But other stuff too. We’re still bonded thanks to the curse. None of us really sat down and got to know one another. Even Viper seems ready to open up without us having to rob a national treasury to pay for the information.”

“You’ll probably have my entire background dug up before we meet up again. I don’t see us having a heart to heart over it anytime soon. I’m not that interesting, senpai.”

Colonnello forced down his cringe at the whispered act. “I disagree. You seem interesting enough. And Viper’s been cursing the old records so we might not know everything. We can get together with some drinks and figure out which one of us has the worst most embarrassing childhood story.”

Skull snorted, but Colonnello’s attention was drawn to the turning doorknob.

He just about panicked as he carefully slid his hand over the phone to muffle the faint background noise of the door opening.

“Surprisingly I don’t have as many embarrassing childhood stories to tell.” Skull was saying as Colonnello’s eyes adjusted to the flood of light coming in from the hallway. Fon’s silhouette was outlined, yet the Storm wisely remained quiet as Colonnello held a finger to his lips. “You probably already have me beat on that one.”

“Well I do know you probably have had more than a few embarrassing stories since being cursed.” Colonnello happily teased as Fon slipped into the room and slid silently over to him. “Though I’m more curious about what you were up to when we weren’t ordering you around, lackey.”

“I’m sure you are.” Skull said even as Colonnello quickly managed to put him on speakerphone. The way Fon’s eyes widened was enough for Colonnello to smirk.

“So, where are you so we can meet up?” Colonnello prodded.

“Places, I told you. Look, I’m busy. Just stop poking around my apartment. If I get back and find you made a mess of the place, I will put you in traction.”

“Come on, Skull. I’m bored and I got nothing to do for another few weeks. Maybe I can help you with whatever you’re up to. It’d get me away from the crazies.” Colonnello almost whined.

“Don’t let Fon know you called him crazy.” Skull warned even as Colonnello smiled sheepishly at the raised eyebrow from his Storm.

“Uh, right. Crazies minus Fon.” Colonnello corrected. “So?”

“It’s out of your skill set.” Skull said simply making Colonnello raise an eyebrow.

“Lackey, there’s little in the mafia that isn’t in my skillset.”

Skull snorted. “Subtly isn’t really your thing.”

“Is that so?” Colonnello asked challengingly.

“The last time you had to infiltrate someplace you went in and kicked the door down to slaughter everything in your path. You might be a sniper but that would only get you so far.”

“I can infiltrate and spy.” Colonnello whined.

“And Reborn can convincingly cross dress without being creepy.” Skull shot back making Colonnello choke.

“Please don’t compare my black ops training to Reborn’s foray into cosplay.” Colonnello bemoaned with a cringe. “Just…no.”

There was a faint female voice in the background on Skull’s end. Colonnello couldn’t tell what was being said, but got the gist that Skull was listening. Blinking, the Rain peered over and noticed Fon giving the phone a frown.

“Look, I got to go.” Skull said suddenly. “If it makes you happy, I’ll call to check in again when I have the time.”

“Positively happy, I’m jumping for joy.” Colonnello reassured quickly getting a snort.

“Sure.” Skull said pausing before dropping his voice into a slightly low whisper. “Hopefully by then Mammon will have found my naturalization paperwork.”

Colonnello blinked but before he could say anything the call ended. Slowly he looked up to share an equally stunned look with Fon. The moment hung in the air for all of two seconds.

“Naturalization paperwork?” Colonnello asked breaking the silence.

“Apparently he wasn’t born in America.” Fon offered with a hint of a smile.

Colonnello blinked again before shifting a bit. “So…”

“We heard your rather graceless stumble.” Fon offered with a growing smirk. “I offered to make sure you were okay.”

“Uh,” Colonnello could feel his face get warm, “yea, totally okay. Just, well, the phone was in my pants’ pocket.”

“Ah.” Fon said hiding a smile behind his sleeve.

Neither moved for a long minute.

“Are… you going to go tell Viper about what we learned?” Colonnello tried his best not to slouch.

Fon hummed, “And what did we learn?”

“Skull wasn’t born American. Otherwise he was rather dodgy.”

“And how did he know to call this phone, rather than your personal one?” Fon asked making Colonnello curl up a bit.

“He knew I was in his apartment. Didn’t say how.” Colonnello offered suddenly conscious of the fact that he was just sitting around in his boxers. He also wasn’t sure why he felt like a little kid being scolded for doing something they shouldn’t have. It was embarrassing.

“I suppose Verde would want to know that.” Fon offered still not moving as Colonnello fidgeted. “Are you well my friend? You’ve been rather antsy all day.”

“Yep.” Colonnello tried for casual but it came out slightly squeaky. “Just been a little off with everything going on.”

“That’s understandable.” Fon offered before slowly rising to his feet. “Perhaps some rest will do you well. I’ll go tell the others that Skull called and what little we can offer. Why don’t you go back to bed?”

“Sure.” Colonnello muttered as he too rose to his feet.

He shifted even as he watched Fon glide out of the room. The burn phone in his hand felt heavy as he watched the door close. Then he was alone with nothing but a churning feeling in his stomach that he couldn’t quite name.


	5. Potential Ally

Colonnello managed to pull himself from bed around midmorning. He was feeling a little more settled than he had the day before, but he was still uneasy. Tossing a glare at the burn phone sitting next to his own, he paused to examine it more closely.

The reason he pocketed it was because unlike the others, this one was charged and already active. It wasn’t one of the ones in the front of the rows, being somewhere in the middle. But it also was one that didn’t seem too suspicious, aside for being the only one ready for use.

Turning the silver and grey phone over in his hands, he noticed the slight smudges where his fingers had touched the screen. Frowning he touched the screen with his thumb and nearly dropped the phone when he noticed the small blue light near the camera flicker. Turning the phone on he checked the photo album to find a picture of himself frowning at the screen with his thumb front and center.

Shaking his head, he began poking around looking for how it was programed to take a picture every time the screen was tapped. It was tricky but Verde had once sat him down and explained the dangers of the growing cellphone industry. He eventually had to pocket the phone since he would have to plug it into his computer to find the hidden app running in the background.

Heading down the stairs, he paused to glance into the living room. Only Verde and Reborn were awake, both looking noticeably rumpled while Reborn was glaring at a file like it personally wronged him. Colonnello couldn’t tell if the hitman had just woken up, or if he had been up all-night lending to a fowler temper.

Fon had taken over the couch, likely the first to fall asleep, and was now buried in discarded paperwork like it was blanket. Viper was curled up in a chair with a throw blanket muttering something incoherent as they shifted ever so slightly. While his beloved Lal was currently slumped over a desk, pen still held upright like she dosed off in the middle of taking notes, a small bit of drool pooling under her cheek away from any papers.

Refraining from snorting, Colonnello headed into the kitchen and quickly set about making a pot of coffee. He also began brewing a cup of espresso, knowing it would make Reborn a bit more agreeable. While that was brewing, he turned around and grabbed a bit of fruit salad and some breakfast pastries.

The pot of coffee brewed, espresso finished, and breakfast set on a tray, Colonnello headed back into the impromptu office. Reborn looked up at the scent of caffeine while Verde seemed absorbed with whatever was on his computer screen. Colonnello set the tray on the desk near Lal and began pouring a mug with straight black coffee.

Reborn wandered over to grab the cup of espresso and a pastry before heading back to the chair he had been using. Verde barely looked up from his work as Colonnello shoved the mug under the scientist’s nose. Still the Lightning began drinking the steaming coffee which was always a plus.

Colonnello then went over to Lal and carefully picked her up. There was a chance she would sucker punch him, but this time she curled against his chest as he moved her over to the other free sofa. She curled up on the couch and he went back to the desk she had been using.

He found his laptop under a pile of manila folders containing printouts of newspaper articles. A quick check found reviews of a few of the movies Skull worked on. There were even two critical pans for the earlier movies Skull acted in.

It was all info he already went over, so instead he focused on booting up his computer. While the systems loaded, he poured himself a cup of coffee and surveyed the white boards. The one behind him had been added to since he last saw it.

Now there was more info on Nikita, including a print out of her own naturalization documents. As he peered at the slightly rough copy, he noted Nikita entered the US in 1960 when she was just five with her family. Apparently, they came from the Mediterranean area, a small town in Albania near the boarder of Greece to be exact.

Glancing over the info again, Colonnello found a vague history of Nikita’s family in the US. From the job her father had in New York to his transfer to St. Louis. The family gained citizenship in 1966 after Nikita had turned eleven.

There were also school records for the woman that would eventually marry Skull. Colonnello was impressed by how well she did and the fact that she apparently attended some pretty expensive all-girls schools. She eventually went off to college for veterinary medicine in California.

It wasn’t hard to see she made the jump to animal training from there. There wasn’t much on how she made the switch, but her employment records started almost a year into her college education. From there her life was pretty cut and dry up until she died in the ranch fire.

All in all, there didn’t seem anything too out of the ordinary in Nikita’s history. So Colonnello was pretty sure Skull’s relationship with her had been rather innocent. It still didn’t show any indications about how or why Skull acted the way he did around the Mafia or why he went to the Arcobaleno meeting in the first place.

Turning back to his laptop he found the system had finally booted up. From there it was just a matter of plugging the phone in and running a few scans with a some of the security software Verde downloaded on his computer one day without him asking. The scans were slow but thorough, so Colonnello turned back to the white board.

Skull’s section wasn’t nearly as forthcoming in information. There was his work history and where that led Skull around the world. There was some info about how Skull got started, as well as an old license for Alexis Damian from 1971, but that was about it.

“He was about twenty-five when we first met him.” Reborn said suddenly next to Colonnello’s shoulder.

“Still makes him the youngest.” Colonnello pointed out since he had been twenty-six and the others were nearing or in their early thirties.

“True, but he managed to accomplish a lot for being so young.” Reborn said with a frown. “He started his stunt shows when he was seventeen.”

“In Nebraska, right?” Colonnello asked remembering that was the earliest he could find of Skull de Mort.

“Yea, his family apparently settled there in 1961.” Reborn said with a frown. “But there’s something different about his naturalization paperwork.”

“Different?” Colonnello said only to have the folder Reborn had been reading shoved in his face.

“Compare it to Nikita’s.” Reborn demanded.

Colonnello almost sighed but did as told. Slowly he went over the files carefully, glancing up every so often to check it against Nikita’s. It took a long moment before he blinked.

“These are fake.” He said eyebrows shooting up. “I mean they’re perfect, but they seem a bit outdated.”

“They were reprinted in 1970 when the so-call originals were lost in a fire. The re-prints were the real deal, the originals weren’t.” Reborn said with a smirk.

“Bless the old filing systems.” Colonnello huffed before shaking his head. “So, he was in the country illegally?”

“What’s more is I think the people listed as his parents weren’t his actual blood relatives.” Reborn said snatching the file to flip a few pages. “They’re more Grecian than Skull is.”

Sure, enough the couple that were supposedly the parents of Alexis Damian looked almost nothing like him. It was almost hilarious as Colonnello compared the two next to an old photo of Skull without his makeup and piercings. In fact, Colonnello would bet money that Skull originated more from the Middle East than the Mediterranean just going on bone structure alone.

“He really is mocking us.” Colonnello said with a rueful shake of his head. “Although, if he got away with entering the country with false papers…”

“There’s no telling where he came from originally or where he got the papers. His actual age might even be doctored so he appears a bit older than he should be.” Reborn said simply making Colonnello give a low whistle.

“Well,” Colonnello sighed fondly, “he is an Arcobaleno.”

Reborn snorted, “That he is.”

“So, what now?” Colonnello asked checking on his laptop. It still hadn’t gotten through the first scan.

“We’ll have to check with the kids to see if they know where Skull might have taken off to. Verde and Fon weren’t making much progress with tracking down the Carcassa. Apparently, Skull used his trafficking knowledge to hide their trail.”

“That and I suspect they began moving in April of the year prior to our curse being lifted.” Verde piped up signifying he had been listening. “The first key members went missing around that time. Suspected dead though no bodies were ever found.”

“What makes you think they aren’t dead?” Colonnello asked turning to the scientist.

“Apparently they died when a fire broke out at one of the Carcassa warehouses.” Verde said looking up as he sipped some of his coffee. Between the slight paleness and growing darkening under the scientist’s eyes, Colonnello was slightly concerned about when the man last slept.

“Fire?” Reborn asked raising an eyebrow.

“There were bodies found, but they were identified as loyalists to the main family.” Verde said with a shrug as he held up a thick folder.

Reborn took three long strides to snatch the folder up quickly. As the hitman flipped through the files, Colonnello leaned back and thought. This was the third time fire was involved with covering something up when it came to Skull.

“You know,” Colonnello began slowly, “he really did like pyrotechnics in his stunt shows.”

“I’m aware.” Verde said with a smirk. “I actually consulted him on numerous occasions when it came to explosives.”

“Explosives?” Colonnello asked. “I thought you came to Lal and me for that, kora.”

“I did.” Verde said thoughtfully. “When I couldn’t find Skull on short notice. Usually he was easy to find but sometimes had to keep quiet for a job he was doing for the Carcassa. He actually has a few chemistry and physic degrees he got after we were cursed.”

Colonnello frowned having not known that. Sure, he knew Reborn had gone back to school, but Skull didn’t seem like the type to go to college. Even Skull’s old school records were dodgy at best, most pointing to him dropping out by the time he was sixteen.

Colonnello shook that thought from his head. “What I’m saying is, there are a lot of fires associated with him. The ranch fire, the fire that destroyed his supposed naturalization paperwork, now a fire that killed his minions.”

“I’ve noticed that as well.” Reborn said with a frown looking at Verde.

“It’s a growing trend.” Verde nodded as he took off his glasses to rub his eyes. “There’s been a few fires that have plagued the Carcassa over the years. Two notable ones before Skull started working with them, and several dozen since he joined. I think I even found evidence that three fires were purposely set for an insurance scam.”

“So, part of his MO is using fire to cover up things. But why the ranch?” Colonnello asked with a raised eyebrow. “The papers and Carcassa I get.”

“There was a fire investigation done on the ranch.” Verde said getting up and moving over to the desk Colonnello was at. “Lal found it a little past three in the morning before she started to snore.”

“Lal doesn’t snore.” Colonnello huffed out defensively.

“Fine,” Verde rolled his eyes, “when she started to drool.”

Colonnello opened his mouth but soon clicked it closed when a file was shoved into his face. The blonde rolled his eyes as the scientist headed back to his desk. Still, curiosity got the better of him and he flipped the folder open.

It was a copy of an old investigative report. Quickly Colonnello let his eyes sweep over the information, everything from the location of the Green River Ranch to the findings. He frowned as he noted the fire started at a campsite not ten miles away from where Skull’s home used to stand.

Apparently, it spread quickly due to the Santa Ana winds, almost ingulfing the whole region within a few days. The ranch was directly in the path of the fire and there hadn’t been much time given to evacuate. Colonnello frowned as he read in the report that some speculated Nikita was trying to evacuate while saving as many of her animals as possible.

Flipping through the pages, Colonnello found photos of the scene after the fire. There were markers where the bodies had been found. As well as other photos of the charred remains of some of Nikita’s animals.

After the photos there were the autopsy reports. Colonnello grimly read through the details when something caught his eye. Blinking he looked up at the white board looking for the copy of Nikita’s driver’s license that had been pinned up there.

“Find something?” Reborn asked making Colonnello blink at him.

“She’s supposed to be what? Five feet eight inches, right?” Colonnello asked blinking.

“That’s what all her medical records say.” Verde said with a shrug.

“But this says the female remains measured at five feet four inches.” Colonnello said raising the folder like it would prove his point.

“There can be a margin of error depending on the state of the corpse.” Verde said with a frown. “They did identify her through her dental records.”

Colonnello frowned and went back to the autopsy report. There was just something off, he just had to find it. But according to the report it had been difficult since the remains had been so fragile.

Flipping to the autopsies of the children, Colonnello raised an eyebrow. They seemed standard enough, but the coroner made a note that the bones seemed a bit off. Anthony’s bones looked more like that of a seven-year-old, while baby Serena’s bones seemed to be a tad bit too thin to be human.

There was a note that the coroner was suspicious that Cora’s bones were even bones to begin with. Frowning Colonnello switched back to the photos, paying special attention to the ones where the children were found. They were near a door, possibly waiting for their mother to take them to the car, but there was a particular pattern in the burnt wood.

“Flames,” Colonnello hissed sitting up as he looked at the photo. “These look like cast off from Flame exposure.”

“Let me see that.” Reborn said almost yanking the folder from Colonnello’s grip.

Colonnello yelped as he let go and was awarded with the folder Reborn had been holding landing on his head.

“Hey!”

Reborn didn’t even respond as he sauntered over to Verde’s desk. Readjusting the bright desk lamp, Leon was soon a magnifying glass. Colonnello rolled his eyes as he flipped open the new file he had in his hands.

If anyone could pinpoint Flame damage among fire damage it would be those two.

The new folder was another arson report. This one depicting a burnt down warehouse with much more detailed crime scene photos. The report itself was just as cut and dry, but the list of possible victims caught his eye.

Colonnello was perhaps one of the few people outside the Carcassa to know who was who. It came from having to round up the miscreants every year on Mafia Land. He had to have met all the minions at least once since Skull began his attacks.

A few names stood out. Charles “Knives” Ryker, Dannielle “Fairy” Fin, Cato “Black Cat” Dagan, and Enzo “The Crow” Carnell were just a few of the ones Colonnello had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting. None of them were worth their weight in anything and were each their own brand of pieces of work.

But there were a few other names that Colonnello knew meant something to Skull. One name stood out simply because Colonnello had met her when she was thirteen. Perhaps the youngest of all the participants he ever saw attacking Mafia Land.

And she had been _good_.

He didn’t recognize her legal name, if Anna Fairchild was her legal name. But he knew the name Renegade as easily as he knew Skull. She stood out especially since he could remember the first time they’d met vividly.

 

 

The summer sun beat down on the training ground while a thick tropical humidity clung to every available surface. It had rained earlier that morning, around the time the Carcassa boats appeared near the bay. Somehow Skull had found a Mist powerful enough to hide the entire fleet until they were almost docked.

After the mad scramble of the morning, Colonnello felt he could relax. The Carcassa were back on their ships sailing away with their tails between their legs. The roundup this time not nearly as straining as it usually was since the black clad operatives got bogged down on the beach.

Colonnello couldn’t even begin to wonder how Skull and his cronies were feeling now. He bet those ridiculous full body leather outfits were hell. But the Rain also conceded how close Skull got this time to overtaking the island.

The attack had come from three directions. The two main beaches were overrun, occupying most of the security personnel. If it hadn’t been for an eagle-eyed rookie manning the security cameras, they would never have noticed the four strike teams silently slipping off the train from the training grounds into the resort proper.

Each team had seven to eight operatives, each skilled in combat, and each team poised to take down the security teams from behind. Two teams splintered off with each new group heading to one of the beaches. Honestly, Colonnello hadn’t known they had been so close to his six until he nearly got a knife in the shoulder.

It was jarring because the normal minions didn’t come with weapons. Though these new supped up minions didn’t aim to permanently harm or kill. Colonnello even recognized two after they managed to overpower the newcomers and tie them up with their cannon fodder buddies.

It seemed Skull was upping his minion game.

Still with the excitement dying down and the humidity high, Colonnello retreated to the air-conditioned trailer in the training ground to clean his rifle. He hadn’t used it against the ships this time but that didn’t mean he wasn’t worried about any sand that could have gotten in the firing mechanism. Two of the new minions from the strike team had managed to get in a few good hits making him roll across the beach a bit.

Halfway through his calm relaxations, the quiet was broken by a loud yelp.

“Come back here you little brat!”

Colonnello looked up with a frown knowing the sound of his subordinate’s voice. He moved away from the table to open the door and see what the commotion was about. No one had booked the training grounds for the day so there really shouldn’t be anyone around.

“Fuck you, cunt!” A young female voice snarled as Colonnello let his eyes adjust to the glare of the sun.

He blinked as he watched Mike, one of his top subordinates, get kicked in the crotched by a young girl. Valiantly the brunet held onto the slim arm as he cringed. Yet the girl wasn’t done as her other leg shot out and nailed the man in the face with her boot.

Mike cursed as he let go to grab his new bleeding nose. It made Colonnello snort as the girl twirled around Bravo, who lunged to catch her. With one smooth motion she flipped up and over Delta, landing to handspring away, and was halfway to the train.

“Oi! Get back here!” Delta yelled turning around to chase after the little slip of a thing. Considering Delta stood a solid six feet four inches and weighed nearly two hundred fifty of pure muscle, it was rather comical.

Colonnello shot past since he knew Delta wasn’t one for sudden bursts of speed. The girl seemed to sense his incoming though and baseball slid at the last moment. Colonnello flew over her even as she got her feet under her to shoot off to the side.

By then Bravo had recovered and moved to block her escape. She dodged to the side again, practically throwing herself between the gap towards the train. But Colonnello shot off to the side and managed to slide into her foot with just enough strength to send her face first into the dirt.

“Fuck!” She cursed as she rolled to the side.

But Bravo pounced, using his own significant height to pull the girl off her feet. She was kicking in the air cursing them and their mothers. Bravo just made sure her feet weren’t in any danger of hurting him as he almost tucked her into one of his arms.

“Sorry boss, she’s feisty.” Bravo said with a grin stretching his dark face.

“I can see that, Kora.” Colonnello said looking at the slim girl that was doing a pretty good impression of a hissing cat. “Do I want to know?”

“Apparently we missed one this morning.” Delta said with a heavy sigh. “She’s been giving us the run around since she was spotted in the ice cream parlor. It took ten guys just to get her on the train.”

“Then where are the rest of you?” Colonnello asked looking around since these three seemed to be the only ones there.

“Unconscious.” Mike answered as he remained almost bent over to let his nose finish bleeding. “She roughed up the others pretty good during transit. Nearly got out a window she smashed with the emergency ax.”

“We had to handcuff her to one of the poles to get her to stay still.” Bravo said before huffing and readjusting his hold on their captive. “Still managed to pick four cuffs before we got here.”

“Just wait until I get out of these bracelets, asshat.” The girl spat venomously as she tried to wriggle free.

“Well,” Colonnello sighed eyeing their captive, “bring her inside. Maybe the A/C can cool her down.”

She spat a loogie at Colonnello’s face. The thick viscus drop of liquid slid down Colonnello’s cheek. Luckily for her, Colonnello just wiped it away as he took a deep breath through is nose before sighing.

Once inside the trailer, Bravo forced the girl into a spare wooden chair, keeping her there with a large hand on her shoulder. The robust African even smiled down at her petulant glare since her feet barely seemed to touch the ground. Still she tried to shake off his hand while also fighting with the handcuffs keeping her hands behind her back.

It was only then Colonnello got a good look at her. He was right about her being young, perhaps no older than thirteen. Her slim figure was pale and there was just a tiny hint of her maturing female form under now dusty clothes.

Her black hair was cut in a cute chin-length bob with long bangs swept towards her right side. Her bangs were long enough to hide one sharp pale blue eye. There was also a small scattering of freckles over her straight nose.

She wore a black Breton cap with a bedazzled skull pin with the leather brim tilted to the right. Her black jean jacket was a size too big and covered with patches, almost hiding the red and black striped shirt she wore underneath. She also had on a pair of black short shorts held in place by a thick studded black belt. To finish she had on a pair of knee-high black shocks and some scuffed black boots that had seen some better days.

She didn’t have any earrings he could tell, less likely for something to get snagged, and otherwise would seem like a normal rebellious teenager. Yet one of the patches on her jacket Colonnello knew well enough, it was the same purple octopus patch Skull’s minions tended to have on their uniforms. There was also a less noticeable patch, a skull and bones with a purple outline which was more in line with the Carcassa.

“What are you looking at.” She spat at him since Bravo wasn’t budging.

“You know Skull and the rest of your crew already left right?” Colonnello asked getting a venomous glare from her. “Mind telling me how you missed the boat?”

“I’d rather swim with sharks, bastard.” She shot back with a sniff.

“That can be arranged, kora.” Colonnello said with a grin. The uneasy but challenging look she shot back at him made him grin wider. “But before that.”

Colonnello paused as his phone rang. Sighing he pulled it out and checked the number. Then he all out grinned and accepted the call.

“Lackey!” He almost cheered noting the slightly enraged sneer the girl shot him. “You left one.”

“Senpai,” Skull whined over the phone, “don’t hurt Renegade! She didn’t mean to miss the boat.”

“She seemed to have put up a good fight before she was brought in.” Colonnello said eyeing the girl now known as Renegade.

“Ren’s like that.” Skull said simply. “Isn’t she just adorable?! The boss wanted me to take her with because she’s been terrorizing the minions all summer long! I don’t see what their problem is, I’m going to miss her when she has to go back to school.”

Colonnello spent the next five minutes letting Skull rant his ear off. Half of it was praise for the girl snarling across from the Arcobaleno Rain, the other half was complaints about how the boss treated Skull’s new favorite girl. Colonnello almost smirked since this had been the most animated, he had seen Skull in a while.

Then Bravo cursed as he was flipped onto his head. Renegade used the chair as a launching point to practically vault over Delta. Colonnello was up with a shout even as the girl kicked the door down heading for the train.

Unfortunately for Renegade, Mike was ready with a taser gun. The girl went down hard with a yelp but still somehow managed to start army crawling away. It was impressive even as Delta sighed and picked her up to once again restrain her.

“You know what, lackey?” Colonnello said deciding right there on the spot what he wanted to do. “I’ll give her back in a month.”

“A MONTH?!” Skull screeched but was cut off when Colonnello hung up.

“You, girl,” Colonnello grinned at the glare he was receiving, “just earned some free training.”

 

 

Colonnello almost smiled at the memory. Renegade had looked adorable in her training outfit that had matched his, aside from the number two on her headband. Her attitude hadn’t changed much in the month she was under his tutelage, but she did work off the damage she had caused during her stay on Mafia Land.

And that girl could work. She never complained about his training or even her assignments. Instead she would usually frown with a slightly pinched look before letting out an aggravated sigh and just do whatever she was asked.

It didn’t surprise Colonnello that Renegade turned out to be a Cloud. Even back during her stay on Mafia Land she had Skies edging toward her and that was before her Flames presented. Still somehow Colonnello couldn’t see Renegade ever settling down or being under anyone’s protection other than Skull’s.

Even the stigma of being part of the Carcassa didn’t seem to bother her.

Almost absently he minimized the scanning program on his computer to pull up his photo album. The last photo he had of Renegade was taken when she had been sixteen, just about a month before he got his memories of the Future that Would Never Be. She had stopped by Mafia Land for a visit, sneaking past the security as easily as Skull used to when he first started showing up.

Her straight black hair was now shoulder length, her bangs still side-swept, and her light blue eyes now held an almost permanent purple tint. Yet she was looking better than ever, a tall lean woman with slim toned muscles and just enough padding in the right places. She had gotten her eyebrow and bellybutton pierced as well as had no less than three piercings in each of her ears.

She stood with an almost relaxed glare at the camera, her arms resting lightly on her hips. She had on a pair of black form hugging pants with cargo pockets on the side of her thighs, as well as a form hugging grey shirt with a purple octopus detail taking up most of it. Still with her black leather jacket and combat boots she didn’t look like a young woman to mess with.

Colonnello, still in his cursed form, sat smugly on one of her slim shoulders.

Absently Colonnello noted the date and time stamp on the photo. He could remember vaguely when it was taken. But the three days she had spent on the island had been a bit of a blur since they spent most of it training.

Suddenly he was struck by two things. The first being the date of the photo in front him was just a few days before the fire at the Carcassa Warehouse. The second was how much she looked like Skull standing there like that.

Not Skull as he knew him Skull. But with her coloring and the tilt of her head she looked surprisingly like Alexis Damian. So absently he began searching through the manila folders and pulled out a photo of Skull as the actor.

Holding it up to compare, Colonnello blinked. Renegade had Skull’s nose and almost delicate cheekbones. Her eyes were a lighter shade of blue, but both had the same dark black hair, even if Skull’s was curlier.

Slowly lowering the photo, Colonnello bit his thumb nail as he thought. He knew Renegade was sixteen the last time he met her, even Skull confirmed it. So, she was too young to be Skull’s daughter, unless of course Skull had some sperm samples on ice.

Still, that didn’t seem right either. Skull didn’t strike him as the kind of guy to go for that. Plus, it wouldn’t have been ideal given that the authorities could have easily got that samples for testing if Skull was ever suspected of his crimes.

But looking back, Skull did fuss over Renegade more than his usual minions. There had to be some sort of reason for it. Shaking his head Colonnello instead exited his photo album and pulled up the scan again.

It was at five percent.

Rubbing his eyes, the sighed before looking around the room. Reborn and Verde were quietly discussing the crime scene photos Colonnello had spotted. The others were still fast asleep, which given the last two days was a godsend.

Colonnello glanced at Reborn and Verde again before standing up. He had left his phone in his room, so he went to go get it. He didn’t believe Renegade really died in that warehouse fire.

She was too wily for that.

Instead after closing the door to his room, Colonnello dialed a number. He didn’t know if it would work, but Renegade told him she could be reached no matter what. Or at the very least there would be a coded message to let him know either the number was in disuse or she was dead.

Two rings in and Colonnello was gnawing on his lip.

Then a cool voice replaced the ringing, “Boss said you’d probably call.”

“Ren.” Colonnello sighed in relief.

“Something wrong?” She asked sounding vaguely intrigued.

“I just read a report you died in a warehouse fire, that’s what’s wrong, kora.” He snapped surprised by the sudden protectiveness he felt.

“Well I’m fine.” Renegade offered. “That little incident at the warehouse was just a good way to get some unsavory people off my back.”

“Unsavory how?” Colonnello asked suddenly suspicious.

“Nothing you need to worry about now. It was dealt with nearly two years ago.” She sighed.

“So?” Colonnello asked unsure what he wanted to say.

“I don’t know where boss is.” Renegade answered simply. “He’s had me working back channel ops for the past six months. It’s… tedious.”

Colonnello snorted, “Skull said they usually involved a lot of computer work.”

“I’m close to responding to all my correspondents in Python, Java or C++ would be too nice.” The way she hissed the last word sent a cold shiver down his spine. “I wish I had my Lightning for this shit.”

“Your Lightning?” Colonnello felt himself whisper weakly.

“Yes, I know who they are at least.” Renegade responded like she was stating the weather. “I got some memories from the Future.”

“But you weren’t there.” Colonnello protested waving his hand in exasperation.

“Who says I wasn’t?” She asked hotly. “Boss made sure I got the few memories I could. You know he looks out for me.”

“Well yea, but what the hell, kora?” Colonnello wasn’t sure what he was asking clarification for, perhaps life in general.

“You,” she paused a second sounding unsure, “you don’t know do you?”

“Don’t know what?” Colonnello asked turning serious.

“What Yuni did.” She answered softly, almost sound small which didn’t seem possible.

Colonnello felt a breath hiss between his teeth before growling, “Ren.”

“I can’t make it to the island right now.” She said sound a bit uncertain. “I have to go to Namimori in two days. Think we can meet up then?”

“I’m in Namimori, can you get here sooner?” He snapped.

“Tomorrow then, there’s a cake shop in block twenty-three, downtown.” She sounded like she was packing something up.

“Time?” He asked simply. He knew the cake shop, Kyoko had gone there when he was staying with the Sasagawa family while training Ryohei.

“Fourteen hundred local standard?” She offered making him almost smirk.

“I’ll be there.” He said simply getting a hum of acknowledgement from her. “And Ren, be careful.”

“See you then.” She said softly before hanging up.

Colonnello sighed down at his phone. Renegade would rather die than give up Skull’s location, he knew that. But at least now he had someone he could ask questions.

Shaking his head, he pocketed his phone. He’d get some answers, but Renegade was rarely agreeable if she felt backed into a corner. Interrogating her often ended with sullen silence and a craving for some strong liquor.

Looking to the door, Colonnello froze as glowing golden eyes pinned him in place. Even the casual way Reborn was leaning against the doorjamb with his arms crossed was threatening. Like a lazy predator eyeing new meat.

Still Colonnello found himself almost hypnotized by the flames dancing in the usually dark eyes of the hitman. It wasn’t a surprising occurrence, it usually happened to the Arcobaleno if they were feeling some sort of strong emotion. Unless of course it was Verde or Skull, those two practically bathed in their Flames one hundred percent of the time making the telltale glow hard to distinguish.

Almost as if he was in a trance, he watched as Reborn slowly pushed himself away from the door. The smooth gate of the hitman was deathly silent, making the hairs on the back of Colonnello’s neck rise. Yet despite the danger, the slight uneasy feeling in Colonnello’s stomach seemed to lessen.

“So,” Reborn practically purred the bastard, “who’s Ren?”

Reborn’s final step was loud, like he purposely scuffed his shoe on the hard floor. The Sun having stopped well within striking distance but not close enough to invade Colonnello’s space. It still made the soldier pause for just a second.

“Renegade.” Colonnello corrected absently. “One of Skull’s Clouds, I met her during the Carcassa raids on Mafia Land. She supposedly died in the warehouse fire.”

“And you didn’t think to call her before?” Reborn asked tilting his head reminding Colonnello the damned bastard was two inches taller.

“Didn’t think I needed to.” Colonnello said with a huff. “Questioning her is going to be like pulling teeth. She can break the best interrogators I’ve met.”

“Does she know where Skull is?” Reborn asked inching forward just a bit in a smooth motion.

“She says she doesn’t.” Colonnello narrowed his eyes feeling his Flames rise. He did not appreciate the subtle threat.

“You don’t believe her.” Reborn said with a slight smirk.

“Not entirely.” Colonnello admitted. “If she doesn’t know his physical location, she’s bound to know what he’s doing. She wasn’t high on the totem pole in the Carcassa, Skull kept it that way to keep her out of trouble.”

“Perhaps you should introduce us to her.” Reborn suggested making Colonnello snort.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“The moment she sees you she’ll either run or start shooting. She barely tolerates me as it is.” Colonnello grumbled. “Doesn’t like how I treated Skull in the past but won’t say why.”

“You have an idea.” Reborn said and Colonnello had to fight down an eyeroll.

“A vague one.” Colonnello said before stepping to the side.

Reborn snatched his arm to keep him from walking past.

“So far your vague ideas have been fruitful.” Reborn said simply. “So, what new idea have you been entertaining?”

Colonnello paused to nibble on his lip. His hands felt like they were shaking so he balled them. If he was right and Skull was related to Renegade, then that would open a whole new line of questions to be answered.

“Colonnello.” Reborn purred into his ear making him stiffen. “Tell me.”

“She looks more and more like Alexis every time I see her.” He said simply. “Worse, she’s also started to look more like Skull as well.”

Reborn’s shock was enough that Colonnello could wrench his arm free. He forced himself towards the door and not to look back at the Sun. Still he paused at the threshold when Reborn called out to him.

“The others are waking up and looking for food. Verde and I are going to go get some sleep. Viper and Lal already volunteered to go speak with the kids, so that leaves you and Fon to continue searching for things we’ve missed. Good job noticing the Flame patterns in the fire damage.”

“Do you think Skull wasn’t the only one with a fake death?” Colonnello couldn’t help but ask.

“Most certainly, especially if Renegade is related to him. We will of course be scheduling around your meeting tomorrow.”

“Sure.” Colonnello said before stalking into the hall and towards the stairs.

He had some lunch to make and to check on the burn phone. Still that didn’t distract him from whatever that had been or the fact he was about to go play twenty-one questions with one of Skull’s prized students. Instead he sighed to himself as he ducked towards the kitchen.

Apparently not only he and Lal had relationship issues to work through now the curse was gone.


	6. Second Engagement

The day was darkly overcast, a blanket of rich grey clouds hung overhead stifling the town in humidity. A cool breeze had kicked up earlier after a light drizzle, now it danced playfully through the tall buildings of downtown Namimori. All things considered, the weather was a lot more pleasant than he was expecting.

Two hours after noon, Colonnello found himself casually meandering to his meeting with Renegade. Earlier that morning the others had been up and fussing well before he even left the bed. Verde and Viper already in an argument over which camera and communication system they were going to be strapping to the Rain later.

Even as he was cooking breakfast, Reborn and Lal were both drilling him on what information they wanted out of Colonnello’s contact. He tried to tell them that it wouldn’t be easy, but they didn’t listen, so he suffered through. At the very least Fon had offered nothing but silent and slightly amused support.

Now he could almost feel them hovering a few feet away. He forced himself to not look up at the office building across from the building that housed the cake shop. He just knew Reborn had taken over one of the office spaces that would offer a good line of sight to the interior of the shop.

Forcing himself not to sigh, Colonnello picked up his pace just a tad. He had pocketed the earpiece almost as soon as he stepped out of the car. Renegade would have noticed it almost immediately and really Colonnello wasn’t in the mood for her to be uncooperative.

The rest of the previous day hadn’t been significantly productive. The kids didn’t know anything about Skull really, though Enma did say he’d be off grid for a bit. Plus, he and Fon hadn’t made any headway in finding leads as to where or what Skull was doing.

Though Colonnello did figure out the program that was running on the burn phone he picked up. Fon also figured out the clever security system Skull had in place at his apartment. Turns out the fact that they had a key had deactivated most of the security as not to draw attention, so that was how Fon was left unknown.

The few measures left in place however were scarily efficient. Had Fon actually touched any of the doorknobs in the place, his biometrics would be logged in a database. It wouldn’t even matter much if Fon had used his sleeve to keep from leaving fingerprints.

Colonnello’s fingerprints just helped verify his identity.

Verde was already salivating over the whole thing, including the hidden programs on the burn phones. The genius had started a long rant about how he knew Skull stole some of his notes. But most of it went over Colonnello’s head when Verde started going full tech-god in his explanation.

The gist, as far as Colonnello could tell, was that once Skull was found Verde was going to dissect the Cloud’s security, possibly at needle point.

Colonnello forced down a shudder at the thought. Not even he liked it when Verde got a little too enthusiastic with injections. So, he doubted Skull would be pleased with the upcoming discussion on electronic alarm systems.

As he pushed those thoughts from his mind, he found himself pushing open the door to the little cake shop. He blinked as the warm homey scent of fresh baked goods filled his senses as he stepped in. The warm light illuminating the floor space cast everything in a soft glow.

The place wasn’t too large or too small. There was a counter that acted as a glass display for the day’s choices of confectionaries, as well as a black sign hanging on the wall with the day’s menu. There was a line of twelve small tables pushed up against the large half curtained windows as well as five booths against the inner wall.

Most of the rest of the space was used for patrons to get to the counter or to loiter as they waited in line. Even the walls were a warm golden yellow that offset the deep green curtains at the windows. The booths and chairs were swathed in black fabric while the table tops seemed to be a rich dark wood.

Colonnello’s drifting eyes spotted a pair of high school girls giggling at one of the window tables, a business man sipping coffee at the table closets to the counter, and a bubbly smiling young woman tending to an elderly gentleman at the register. Despite there usually being a lot of foot traffic later in the day, now things were calm. And in the middle booth, sipping a drink with a slice of cake in front of her, sat Renegade.

She hadn’t changed too much since he last saw her nearly two years ago. She might have gotten a smidge taller, but it was hard for him to tell with her sitting down. But she still had the same lithe toned build, only know her curves were womanly.

Her hair was different as well. Purple collarbone length hair framed her face with side swept bangs that faded to black near the back. The black hair in the back was far shorter, almost reminding him of the high and tight hair style common among the military.

A pair of silver framed polarized aviator glasses sat primly on the top of her head. Even as he started making his way towards her, he could spot a pair of Oakley’s. The brand was a favorite among vacationers, and he’d place this pair on the higher end of the price range.

The haircut really let him see her ear piercings, three in the right four in the left. One earring in her left ear really caught his eyes since it appeared to be a snake that wrapped around the shell of her ear with the tip of its tail stabbed through her lobe. It was a new one that he hadn’t seen yet.

The two eyebrow piercings in her left eyebrow where the same, though now her eyebrow was as purple as the hair framing her face. Though the silver studs quickly directed his attention to her now purple eyes. Dark eyeliner making the dark violet color pop against her pale skin.

She still had her freckles across her nose, but now her lips were painted with matte black lipstick. Otherwise her skin was just as flawless as he remembered it being. Not even an extra beauty mark or scar in sight.

From what he could see, she was wearing a royal purple coreset with black trim under her black leather jacket. As he got closer, he could see her long legs clad in a pair of dark washed skinny blue jeans. And of course, she still wore her ever present black boots, only he knew the pair since he gave them to her as a graduation gift when Skull mentioned she made it through high school recently.

He was also unsurprised that she wore a pair of black leather gloves over her slim long fingered hands.

She gave him a small smile as she stood up to greet him, her arms thrown wide.

“Cole! I’m so glad you could make it.”

“Hey Ren.” He chuckled as he tossed his arms around her. She reached his chin in height, so he was careful not to knock her glasses off her head.

He noted she smelled like warm leather, fresh water, and forest loam as she pressed against him. But more importantly she was very much alive and solid. He wouldn’t admit to anyone that it made something in him relax to know that.

“I hope you don’t mind I didn’t get you anything.” She said as she pulled back and motioned to her slice of cake and cup of tea. “I forgot how you liked your coffee again.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he grinned, “I’ll be back in a sec.”

She gave him a smile and nod before slipping back into her booth. Colonnello on the other hand went to the bubbly employee who had just finished helping the old man. In short order he had a cup of steaming black coffee and a fruit pastry as he headed back to the booth.

The second he sat down he noticed a shift in the air. He looked up with a raised eyebrow and saw Renegade tapping a small disk on the tabletop. Her smile was now the sly smirk he was used to.

“A little portable Mist illusion.” She explained easily. “So, we can talk freely.”

“Verde might snatch that up if you’re not careful.” He chuckled making her roll her eyes. “How’ve you been, really?”

“Bored, overworked, paranoid, the usual.” She shrugged as she used a fork to slice off some of her cake. Colonnello guessed the dark confection was chocolate, even if it looked black as sin.

“They want to know where Skull is.” Colonnello tossed out to get the inevitable out of the way.

“I told you, I don’t know where Boss is.” She countered with an eyeroll.

“But you know what he’s doing.”

“Perhaps.” She muttered before sighing. “Okay, not all the details. This time I’m flying mostly blind.”

“What few details do you have?” Colonnello asked blinking.

She shrugged.

“Ren,” he sighed, “I got to tell them something.”

Her black lips pursed as she cutely scowled at him. Then she sniffed and sent a glare at the window, likely at the very office window Reborn was probably lurking in. Colonnello was almost proud, even if Skull took care of most of her training.

“Okay,” she sighed as she turned back to him. “Boss knows people. He knew people back when he was working in Hollywood. I don’t know who they are or what they do. But sometimes…”

“Sometimes?” He prompted gently.

“Sometimes he works for them in exchange for information. Not stuff you can hear on the streets either, though he’s got people for that too.” She paused and lowered her voice almost to a whisper as she leaned forward. “Government information, top secret shit.”

Colonnello blinked trying to comprehend that. Meanwhile Renegade leaned back with a casual shrug.

“He calls the arrangement,” she continued calmly, “keeping the balance, whatever the fuck that means. All I know is there’s this lady, we call her Angel, that comes by sometimes with folders. I don’t have clearance to see what’s inside the fuckers, but Boss takes off after reading them. Not sure what he **_does_** when he’s gone, but he usually shows back up when he’s finished.”

“How long has he been doing stuff like that?” Colonnello found himself asking despite his mind being blank.

Renegade moved her hand in a casually dismissive gesture. “I know before Angel was a lady, Angel was some middle-aged guy with some sort of military background. Some also say there was an Angel even before him, but so far that’s just horse shit. So, if I had to guess, Boss was working with them before I was born. Probably before the curse even.”

“But,” she paused with a shit eating grin, “you didn’t hear this from me.”

“Gotcha,” He nodded because that wasn’t something to go bragging about.

They sat in silence for a moment. The very faint irritation he felt in the back of his mind definitely wasn’t coming from him, so he figured the others realized he wasn’t wearing his communicator. The annoyance wasn’t helping him gather his thoughts any faster.

“So,” he gathered enough of his wits to continue at least, “Yuni?”

Renegade froze with her fork halfway to her mouth. The cool emotionless look with the sharp glowing purple eyes made him instantly think of Skull. It was the same look his Cloud gave him when Colonnello blurted out the man’s name.

“Right, the bitch.” Renegade sighed lowering her fork and crossing her arms. “Where do I even start?”

“How about the beginning?” Colonnello offered with a boyish grin. She gave him an unimpressed look as she pushed her long bangs back behind her ear, they slid in front of her face almost as soon as she dropped her hand.

“Right.” She drawled before snorting. “Aria showed up at our normal kicking spot a few years back, pregnant as all hell and pleading with Boss for help. Said he was the only one of you fuckers she trusted with something so important. We got her shacked up at one of our safe houses out in the boondocks and even lent her a fucking midwife we knew.”

Renegade paused for a moment looking up at the ceiling. “I didn’t have any real part in all that shit. I was actually off in Brazil trying to pretend I was smoothing over some of the Carcassa drug trade with the Cartels. But Yuni got popped out, healthy and happy, and yippee-dee-fucking-doo-da. We dropped her with a caretaker in one of our nice cozy vacation cottages to fucking level up to childhood.”

Colonnello couldn’t stop his snort of amusement even if he tried.

“Yea, fuck you to.” Renegade rolled her eyes. “Anyway, we got her tutors to terrorize on her mom’s coin. No one would go looking for Aria’s spawn among the Carcassa, so she was safe. Or that’s what Aria argued when Boss threw a fit.”

“So, what happened?” Colonnello asked as Renegade faded into silence for a few moments.

He wasn’t expecting her to heave such a heavy tired sigh.

“That bastard Byakuran fucking happened.” Renegade said leaning forward to brace her elbows on the table. “He knew were Yuni was, tried to snatch her up before she became a Donna. We, of fucking course, beat him back. He didn’t really finish that radiation machine until just before Aria kicked it, so Boss was more than enough to send him packing with his tail between his legs. For the most part, us little people stayed out of it.”

“What changed?” Colonnello asked almost sharply.

“The bitch.” Renegade said with a tired shrug. “After her mom passed and she became Donna she… **_repaid_** us for our fucking kindness in looking after her.”

Colonnello felt something twist in his gut. It took all his will not to squirm at the rage he could see in her purple eyes. Instead he took a breath and gently let some of his Flames brush against her calming her down a bit.

“Right, sorry, just it fucking makes me pissed just thinking about it.” Renegade said shaking her head, her Flames brushing off his easily. “Anyway, she showed up much like Aria did. Said she didn’t want us to get hurt because we were loyal to the Boss…”

Colonnello watched as a twisted expression came over her face just then. It was an ugly mixture of anger, sadness, rage, and disgust. Her eyebrows were scrunched, her lips caught somewhere between pursing and curling back in a grimace, and her eyes had a faint shine.

He reached across the table and grabbed her hand.

“Ren?”

She paused to swallow thickly, and her voice sounded pained as she spoke.

“Zero Point Breakthrough.” She managed to choke out. “All of us. She had us moved to one of the vaults and shut us in. We’d been working double time to counter Byakuran too. Almost had it all set up to take him down before she interfered. Said Boss would understand.”

“She froze you?” Colonnello hissed squeezing her hand.

“Yea,” Renegade looked up at him then, honesty shining in her eyes, “yea, she did.”

“Do you know how Skull took it?” Colonnello snapped trying to fight down his own anger. He couldn’t imagine what that might have felt like, especially for a powerful Cloud like Renegade.

Renegade shrugged and squeezed his hand. “Not good from what I learned later. He was damn well going to kill her had that bastard Reborn not been hovering around her like some fucking lovestruck sycophant.”

Colonnello really couldn’t stop his snort, and it brought a slight smile to Renegade’s lips.

“Anyway, he was content she got what was coming when she sacrificed herself. As far as he was concerned, it was the least she could do for what she did to us.” Renegade grinned before frowning. “Then of course we heard about Aria going missing before that fucking trial. Boss had some of the others go check on Yuni at the cottage. She was almost three years old when she went up in Flames. Poor kid was screaming at her caretaker to save her as her body turned to ash. We got it on camera and everything.”

Colonnello had to close his eyes to swallow down the tangle of emotions he was feeling. Several of those emotions weren’t even his. He could feel Reborn’s burning rage, Fon’s quietly wailing despair, Viper’s curling disgust, Verde’s sharp forced apathy, Lal’s calculating icy wrath.

The faint echoing of Skull’s cold vicious killing intent that seemed years old and days young.

Once he forced his calm back in place, he opened his eyes. Renegade was staring at some blank point on the tabletop between them. Her hand still clutching his, like he was some sort of lifeline grounding her in the present.

She looked almost like that pissed off bratty thirteen-year-old he first met. Not some powerful eighteen-year-old just on the cusp of being a full-fledged woman. It struck him that in parts of Europe, her most frequent haunts, she could legally drink now.

“So,” He sighed not letting go of her hand, “what brings you to Namimori?”

Purple eyes quickly glanced up at him and widened.

“Huh?”

“You said you had to come here by tomorrow, kora. What brings you here of all places? The Simon?” He asked casually and slowly some of that cockiness seeped back into her smirk.

“Nah, not them. Though I do kind of want to meet Enma one of these days. Boss thinks he’s adorable, like a little mangy alley cat.” Renegade said with a snort.

“Not the Vongola.” Colonnello said sternly. “You better not start trouble.”

“Of course not, fucking idiot.” Renegade waved him off. “But, well, that pedophile scorpion might start trouble with me. We knocked heads some years back and she walked away bloodier than me.”

“Uh?” Colonnello blinked.

“Oh, you know, that so call poison scorpion, pink haired bitch, Bia-some-fucking-thing-or-other. She was never worth knowing anything about.” Renegade shrugged making Colonnello fight down a smile.

“Bianchi?” He asked feeling his lips curl.

“Fuck yes, that bitch!” Renegade crowed bouncing back to point at him. “That fucker is still sore that I smashed her face in and called her a Pedo.”

“Why?” Colonnello asked in strangled amusement trying not to laugh at Renegade’s sudden good mood.

Renegade gave a casual shrug. “Well she loves Reborn and he looked like a fucking baby. That’s all sorts of wrong if you ask me.”

Colonnello really tried not to snicker but failed.

“I meant,” he stuttered through his chuckles, “why did you smash her face in, kora?”

“Oh, that.” Renegade blinked a few times before smirking. “Some fucker hired her to try to take me out, cause they wanted to get back at Boss. She found out the hard way that I fucking hate it when people mess with my food. I let her live cause getting rid of her body would have been too much work at the time.”

“So, if she spots you, she’ll start trouble?” Colonnello surmised with a grin.

“She’ll try, probably, maybe, fuck if I know.” Renegade shook her head. “But I reserve the right to defend myself. Same if the local Cloud comes gunning for me cause I’m in his territory. Boss was right, that bastard really got shit on when his bond broke the first time.”

“First time?” Colonnello blinked. “What?”

“Eh? You don’t know?” She blinked at him just as stunned.

“I’m not really close to the kiddies.” Colonnello said smoothly with a shrug. “I helped out Sawada’s Sun but didn’t really bother to get to know them.”

“Ah,” she said with a nod before smirking. “Boss noticed it when he was stuck in the hospital with them. Sawada’s got an old seal on his Flames that’s been slowly breaking down. But his Cloud and to some extent his Rain and Sun all show signs of forced Flame rejection. Likely from having their Sky sealed when their bond was forming. Boss couldn’t tell exactly when the seal was placed but suspects it was when the brat was fucking young. He figured that bastard Reborn was helping ease out Sawada’s Flames rather than focusing on tutoring the kid in other subjects.”

Colonnello snorted and shrugged. “Hell, if I know. So Hibari’s unstable?”

“Kind of?” Renegade paused tilting her head as her eyebrows scrunched a tad. “I mean, he should be calming his ass down now that the bond is smoothing out again. But I’d suspect he was one hell of an aggressive bastard growing up, easily irritable, trouble sleeping, restless, borderline obsessive compulsive about what he has claimed as his. It’s one thing for a Cloud to drift naturally, but to find a place to settle down then be forcefully ejected really screws up the instincts, ya know?”

“Uh no.” Colonnello shook his head slowly. “There’s not a lot about Clouds out there.”

Renegade blinked slowly at him for a long moment.

“Uh, right.” She said blinking one more time for good measure. “I forgot the Mafia doesn’t give two shits about Clouds aside from the fucking power boost they get from the bond.”

“So, instincts?” Colonnello hedged getting a snort.

“Clouds are the aggressively possessive mother-hens of the Flame spectrum. I’m not sure why people think we must be standoffish and cold, probably from what little is known about the Primo Vongola’s Cloud, but we’re not all like that.” Renegade rolled her eyes. “Uh, the closest thing I can think of liking a Cloud to would have to be a cat. We like our space, sure, but that doesn’t mean we are against people or things coexisting with us provided we’re not harassed about it. Once we’re used to having something around, we get mighty fussy over it and object to someone tampering with what’s ours.”

“Oh.” Colonnello blinked before snorting. “That does explain some stuff actually.”

“I thought it would.” Renegade smirked. “Anyway, now I got a few questions.”

Colonnello sighed. He wasn’t surprised but he had hoped she would have been willing to answer a few more. He knew if he asked anything now, she’d just sit there smirking at him until he shut up.

“Shoot.” He said shaking his head.

“What’s up with the half a mil price tag on that Sasagawa girl, uh Keiko or something?” Renegade asked with a raised eyebrow.

“WHAT?!” Colonnello sputtered nearly choking on his coffee. “Someone put a hit on Kyoko?!”

“You didn’t know?” Renegade blinked before sighing. “The Vongola are doomed.”

Colonnello didn’t even need the communicator to know the others were just as stunned. None of them had heard anything about that. Reborn’s own shock was almost overwhelming as was the cool anger underlying it.

“Where did you hear about that?” Colonnello almost demanded getting a dismissive wave from Renegade.

“Oh, here and there. Moving on.” She said tapping a finger to her lip as she seemed to consider her next question. “I guess it would be too much to ask where I might find the Miura residence. I bet Sawada has the place locked down tight given she’s his second choice if Kyoko doesn’t make it.”

“Uh, no.” Colonnello said blinking. “None of the Vongola has placed any extra security at the residence of Haru Miura. Lal wanted to cause of the Future that Never Will Be but was outvoted because they didn’t want to draw attention to her.”

Renegade blinked slowly before leaning closer. “So? Where. Is. It?”

“Just a few blocks down from Sawada’s, in the direction of the middle school. I don’t know the exact address.” Colonnello offered tilting his head. He wanted to ask why but knew she wouldn’t answer.

“Ah, well that narrows it at least.” She smirked. “By the way, how goes your research into the Boss?”

“Stop and go.” He shrugged trying to appear casual. “Found out about the Carcassa folding, got some info on his family and what he was doing before the curse. Verde wants Skull’s security systems because they’re apparently works of art, kora.”

She gave a hum but seemed content to sip her cooling tea.

“So, what happened with the Carcassa?” He asked sensing a new opening.

“The upper management had a bit of a disagreement four years ago. The finances were a mess and there was a growing problem of distributors sampling the products a bit too liberally. Boss felt it was high time to take what was his and move elsewhere.” Renegade shrugged. “Only those of us loyal went with him, the rest turned on one another until another Famiglia came along to put them out of their misery and take up their lustrous connections. I hear they were fucking disappointed when they learned the Cloud Arcobaleno had already flown the coop.”

Colonnello snorted but smiled. “So where did you guys go?”

Renegade shrugged. “Here and there, depending on our training. I’ve been shacked up in Berlin for the last year pretending to be a college student. I hear San ended up staking claim to a piece of land in the US after opening a bakery of all things. Boss took a good chunk of the others to some land he owned in Romania for a bit. I think the bulk are at the mansion in Montenegro now, but our network is still a bit fussy.”

“San? As in Sanguine?” Colonnello blinked having heard of the Cloud a few times but never met him.

“The same.” She shrugged. “I never took him as a baker, but he says it’s better than mopping up after idiots all the time.”

“I can imagine, kora.” Colonnello grinned remembering how no nonsense Sanguine was reported to being.

“Anyhow, Boss promised to get our network back up to speed after he got back from his job with Angel. Said it might take a bit, but we should be hearing back from him in a week or two.”

Colonnello suspected that would also be when Skull called him back to check in. He didn’t like not knowing what his Cloud was up to, even more so now that he had some context of who Skull was working with. Still it wasn’t like he could hunt the stuntman down and drag him home to sit on him so he could never leave.

“How long are you off the island?” Renegade asked pulling him from his thoughts.

“I took a month off, but I can head back at any time. Just haven’t found a reason to go back yet, kora.” Colonnello said tilting his head. “And when do you have to go back to school?”

“I got a charter lined up two days from now. I wasn’t going to be here long, just a quick stop in and out.” She answered easily.

“And it has nothing to do with the Vongola.” Colonnello pressed slightly.

“Not directly.” She rolled her eyes. “If you and yours don’t make a fuss they won’t even know I’m fucking here. Well no, they’ll know if the Pedo Scorpion spots me, but otherwise I’ll be quiet as a mouse. Promise.”

“Where are you staying?”

“Some place warm and dry with a solid three stars.” She grinned at him. “I am a college student after all.”

From there the conversation turned more casual and lighthearted. He asked about her classes, she was apparently majoring in engineering. She teased him almost mercilessly about his “adorable crush” on Lal like she usually did when they met up.

He didn’t appreciate her critiques of his poetry, she still gave them anyway.

Still it didn’t seem long until they were headed out. Renegade canceled the illusion and pocketed the small disk. Then she followed him to the entrance, pulling her sunglasses off her head as he held door for her.

“Are you sure you don’t want a ride to your hotel?” He asked a third time even if it wouldn’t work, he knew.

“Ha! And have you bugging me until I leave. Nice try hot shot.” She grinned over her shoulder before slipping her glasses over her eyes. A shake of her head and her bangs fell in front of the polarized lenses just as easily as if she wasn’t wearing them. “Don’t worry, I won’t be looking for any trouble I haven’t already signed up for.”

“That’s what worries me, kora.” He grumbled having an idea of the trouble she could get into. “They call you Renegade for a reason.”

She twirled on her toes, so she was walking backwards for a few steps. Her grin was wide as she gave him a flourishing wave farewell. Then like water she slipped into the crowd and disappeared as if she hadn’t been there.

Shaking his head, he turned to get to the car quickly. If he was lucky, he’d avoid Reborn and make it back to the safe house. He just knew the hitman was gunning to send a bullet his way for not wearing his communicator.

 

He made it safely to the safehouse well before Reborn. As he shut the door, he heard some cursing from the living room turned office. Blinking he peered around the doorframe to see Verde glaring at a computer screen.

“You got thirty minutes before Reborn or Lal storms in here.” Verde announced not looking up from what he was doing. “Viper went to shadow Renegade to her hotel room. We gave you that communicator for a reason.”

“And I pocketed it for a reason.” Colonnello said walking further into the room to lean against the scientist’s desk. “What has you cursing like a sailor, kora?”

“I started looking into the hit the moment she mentioned it.” Verde said with a huff. “I still haven’t found out who issued it, but it’s there. You know the number of up and comers that would want a crack at it since it’s out in the open.”

Colonnello sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. They didn’t need this now, especially since they couldn’t exactly toss the kids at this threat. Yamamoto and Ryohei maybe, the Varia definitely, but Tsuna was still too soft even if he offed Byakuran in That Future.

“What do you think about all this?” Colonnello asked crossing his arms after motioning to everything they found.

“What answer are you looking for?” Verde asked gruffly.

“A semi-honest one.” Colonnello offered giving his Lightning a tired look.

“I’m not entirely surprised, if that’s what you want to hear.” Verde said taking off his glasses to rub his eyes. “Skull never acted like the typical mafioso. Even you and Lal knew how to walk the walk and talk the talk. Skull always held himself just outside of everything.”

“So, you had some idea there might be something up with him?” Colonnello asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I wasn’t quite interested enough to go digging. But you’re right, his presence was suspicious.” Verde said with a sigh before putting his glasses back on. “This Angel worries me a bit. But Skull hasn’t ever been in trouble with the Vindice over violating Omerta.”

“Do you think Angel is from a Famiglia, maybe one of the others from the council?” Colonnello asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Maybe, maybe not. At the very least whatever balance they’re keeping is suspicious. The Vindice probably wouldn’t cooperate if we asked, even if they knew what Skull was up to.” Verde said turning back to the screen.

Colonnello hummed softly, either in agreement or disagreement he wasn’t sure. For a moment the air between them was filled with the tapping of Verde’s fingers on computer keys. Finally, Colonnello stood straight with a sigh.

“And Yuni?” Colonnello asked her name tasting sour on his tongue.

Verde paused in his typing to peer up at him over the rim of his glasses. Those vibrant green eyes glowed like poison and sparks lightly dusted through the scientist’s messy hair. His Lightning looked ready to spend a science bender with live test subjects.

“Okay then.” Colonnello agreed with a frown. “But we’ll need to be on the same page.”

Verde snorted and went back to the computer. “Tell that to Reborn. He’s been snarling since hearing about what happened to baby Yuni.”

“He always did dot on our supposed Skies.” Colonnello offered getting a smirk.

“Bet he’s kicking himself now.” Verde said with pleasure. “I wonder if they could have taken Byakuran down if she hadn’t meddled.”

“Probably.” Colonnello offered getting a sharp look from Verde. “The guys Ren was talking about, they’re Skull’s personal army. I once had a group of them hanging out in an inflatable raft taking pop-shots at vacationers a mile off shore.”

“How many did they off?” Verde asked looking up in confusion.

“Uh, none.” Colonnello found himself chuckling. “They were using non-lethal marking cartridges. Technically those are only affected up to a hundred meters, but they proved otherwise. Most of the vacationers were forced to remain undercover until we chased them off.”

Verde whistled in appreciation. “I wonder who makes their equipment. Remind me to get a full report from Skull once we contain him again.”

“You mean once Skull deems us safe to be around.” Colonnello snorted getting a dismissive wave from Verde.

“He’ll come around. Though, I do wonder if he still has us claimed or if we’ve been separated too long for his claim on us to weaken.” Verde paused before shaking his head and going back to typing. “It was hard enough the last time to get him to warm up to us. Now I wonder if we ever fully succeeded in that endeavor.”

“He’s left us clues about his past.” Colonnello pointed out simply. “We just have to decipher them.”

“Perhaps, but it’s just as likely he has done so to show us how far we’ve grown apart.” Verde muttered with a frown.

“Then he’s giving us a chance to correct that mistake.” Colonnello soldiered on firmly.

“Sometimes I hate it when Rains speak reason.” Verde shot back with a baleful glare.

Colonnello snorted.

The sound of the door opening before slamming shut made both jump. Verde shot him a nasty smirk before ducking his head back down to appear hard at work on his computer. Colonnello for his part glared back at the scientist before pouting and turning to the doorway.

Instead of a pissed off Reborn looming in the doorway, Lal stood there with her hands on her hips. Colonnello fought down a cringe as he pressed back against the desk, realizing he didn’t have any escape routes. He knew that look in his beloved’s eye even before she stalked forward.

“Rico.”

Colonnello couldn’t decide if he wanted to gulp or shiver at her cold purr. Instead he resigned himself to his fate as she snagged his ear. The cold sweat he felt was still real though.

“We have some protocols to discuss.” She declared lurching him forward towards the door.

Colonnello looked back the best he could at Verde after hearing the scientist softly snort. Before Lal dragged him around the doorframe, he flipped the Lightning off. Then with a sharp tug, Colonnello was hauled off to a long loud lecture that thankfully didn’t involve nearly getting runover by a tank this time.

 

Later that night, after they had all regrouped, they sat around the dinning table. Team meetings like this were surprisingly common, whether they were lounging around the Arcobaleno Spring, in some tucked away restaurant, or at a residence one of them owned. Although there were two noticeably empty seats, Skull’s which was often tucked between Verde and Fon’s, and the one at the other end of the table where their Sky usually sat across from Reborn.

Colonnello’s customary seat was across from Fon and next to Lal with Viper usually seated closer to Reborn. Lal had the seat across from Skull’s usual seat, while Verde sat across from Viper. It was an arrangement they came up with after they were cursed, even though Reborn was usually the only one truly close to the Sky Arcobaleno.

“Are we recapping the day?” Verde drawled having had his electronics confiscated for the time being. It made the scientist pouty.

“Not the entire day,” Fon said with a smile behind his sleeve, “we all know about Colonnello’s chat with Renegade.”

“I’m still pissed with you, idiot.” Lal hissed making Colonnello lean away from her.

“Like I told you, I know her enough to know what not to do if I want to keep her talking.” Colonnello defended with his hands raised. “She would have noticed the communicator the moment I stepped through the door, kora. It wasn’t a risk I was willing to take given the circumstances.”

“Mou, what’s the most that would happen?” Viper piped up with a frown.

“I would have gotten that cup of tea to the face and she would have disappeared in the commotion. It’d take months for me to smooth things over.” Colonnello almost groaned thinking of all the work that would have required.

“And we would have gotten nothing.” Reborn said simply getting a vehement nod from the blond. “Where is she staying anyway?”

Viper sighed, “One of the smaller cheaper motels near the airport. It’s only two blocks away, close enough she can catch a flight at a moment’s notice without raising suspicion. I left some of Verde’s monitoring equipment there, so we’ll know if she heads into the city.”

“I also managed to speak to Hibari and got the address for the Miura residence.” Fon offered pleasantly. “He mentioned that Haru and her father were out of town and not scheduled back for another week. The Vongola might not have deemed it necessary to watch over her, but the Disciplinary Committee is an entity onto itself.”

“Good.” Reborn nodded before his eyes swept to Viper than over to Colonnello. “Viper, Colonnello.”

Colonnello sighed even before Reborn could finish. “She’s going to kill me if she finds us.”

“She won’t.” Viper huffed crossing their arms defensively.

“She might.” Colonnello shot back. “I swear her Flames naturally enhance her senses. She’d probably smell us a mile out.”

“Che,” Viper scuffed, “that’s what illusions are for, idiot.”

“What’s the situation with Kyoko-chan?” Reborn cut in smoothly before there was any more of an argument.

“There is a hit out on her.” Verde piped up with a frown. “Seems a coalition of mafia princesses set it up, though I’m not yet sure which Famiglia or how many there are.”

“Makes sense,” Lal scuffed, “taking out competition for the title of Lady Vongola.”

“I already informed Xanxus.” Viper tossed out there. “He and the other commanders are going to be staying for a little while longer to look into it. I already informed him that my services are needed elsewhere.”

“The CEDEF is quiet,” Lal sneered. “I wouldn’t be surprised if that no-good bastard Iemitsu is oblivious to the threat. But I have Oregano scrounging up which lowlifes are sniffing for blood.”

“They won’t do much with us in the area.” Verde put out.

“At least the small-time punks that want a stab at making it big.” Lal countered with a shrug. “Just means we’ll be looking at middle tiered talent, possibly a few higher tiered that want to get back at Reborn. Taking out the girlfriend of his beloved student will certainly send a message.”

“Lal, Fon, mind assisting me with this annoyance in the meantime.” Reborn stated eyeing the two.

“Kyoya will be mildly displeased with my staying, but it has been some time since I last tested my student’s abilities.” Fon offered simply.

“Che, don’t expect me to babysit.” Lal grouched. “I have enough problems with this idiot.”

Colonnello rolled his eyes noticing her pointing at him.

“That just leaves what Colonnello can tell us about the Carcassa,” Reborn began before trailing off to glare at the empty seat across from him.

“He’d never forgive us if we left him out.” Viper said also turning to look at the seat Yuni should be seated in.

“He did say he’d call to check in when he had the time, kora.” Colonnello offered reminding them of the late-night call only two days ago. “We should be able to get a timeframe out of him then.”

“True.” Reborn said smoothly.

“We can wait until then.” Fon added getting a few agreeing nods. “She doesn’t suspect anything or at least won’t believe us capable of turning on her.”

“I’m actually interested in why she thought Skull would understand why she did it.” Verde piped up with a frown. “He’s not known for being logical in stressful situations.”

“Stressful?” Reborn asked turning to the scientist who rolled his eyes.

“I finished the DNA tests. The results are on my phone which you so rudely snatched when I sat down.” Verde huffed.

“And?” Viper asked leaning forward a bit.

“According to the autosomal tests, there’s a good likelihood that her mother is Skull’s daughter. I would need a larger pool of samples to confirm it. It’d be especially helpful if we can find out where her mother is and get a sample from her.” Verde reported with a shrug.

“But you don’t have definitive proof yet?” Reborn asked making the scientist roll his eyes.

“DNA testing is a bit more complicated than what they show on television. It would be easier if I was just tracing an all-male line or all-female line. As of right now, that’s the best you’re going to get.” Verde snapped back easily.

The others turned to Colonnello who blinked. “She never mentions her family.”

“Why must he be so difficult?” Reborn asked no one in particular getting a few smirks in return. “But freezing his granddaughter with the Zero Point Breakthrough would likely make him less than agreeable.”

“What sort of database do you have of the Carcassa, anyway?” Lal asked turning to Colonnello with a sharp eye.

“Not much. We barely even have names, but we did assign each one a serial number just in case. If they popped back up, we filled in what info we could, but for the most part we weren’t that invested in trying to keep an eye on them.” Colonnello admitted. It wasn’t often they had repeat offenders during the annual Mafia Land attack. “Ren, I know because I stole her for a month of training. A few others made some noise in the Mafia afterwards. But otherwise the most we got were physical descriptions and a bit of info on abilities.”

“It’s better than nothing I suppose.” Viper lamented with a sigh. “I’ve worked with less.”

“Renegade mentioned a mansion in Montenegro. Do you know it?” Fon asked blinking at Colonnello who shrugged.

“I’ve heard it mentioned before. It’s not a well-known hotspot but I do know for a while it was used as a temporary orphanage when Skull suddenly had a group of kids to look after. Not sure where he got the kids or why he was protecting them, but during our after-attack party he talked about it.”

“After-attack party?” Reborn asked with a smirk.

“Eh, he started calling the debriefing we had with each other before I booted them off the island that. Usually it was just a rundown of who was where, what was damaged, where to send the repair bills, and who was responsible for what. The big wigs of the island figured if the two of us remained civil during the meet ups there was a slimmer chance of Skull actually attacking the island with any real intent.”

“I wasn’t aware you two had such a good working relationship.” Fon commented blinking at Colonnello who shrugged.

“I liked to think the annual attack was a joint training operation. Skull’s minions got experience storming a fortified Mafia encampment. My security minions got experience handling an attempted hostile takeover of the island. So long as no one ended up dead and the vacationers didn’t complain too loudly, everything was fine.”

Now that Colonnello thought about it, he wondered if that unspoken arrangement still held. He wouldn’t mind if Skull continued, but with the Carcassa dissolved it was hard to tell. Then again, he did know Skull’s personal army was still relatively strong without the unsavory Famiglia backing them.

He decided to put a pin in that so he could discuss it in more detail with Skull later.

“For now, we should focus on the immediate threat.” Verde piped up adjusting his glasses. “After I track down those responsible for the hit, I’ll begin scouring the database. Hopefully with Viper’s help we can match up who is who and where they are currently in the regards of the Carcassa.”

“That’s fair enough.” Reborn said before frowning. “What are your thoughts on Angel?”

Colonnello leaned back with a frown. He looked around the table to see the others also considering their thoughts. Finally, Verde sighed.

“They might be working for a government.” Verde hedged only for Lal to slam her hand against the table.

“Bull! Skull might be a coward and an idiot at times, but he isn’t a rat!” She snarled back making them flinch.

“I’m not saying he is.” Verde grumbled running a hand through his hair. “I’m saying there’s a good reason a government would want to work with one of us. Especially if their contact in question had previous dealings with them.”

“Explain.” Reborn demanded with a heavy frown.

“Flames.” Colonnello put in softly. “With the way technology is going, it’ll only be a matter of time before Flames are caught on camera. How many times have you caught Tsuna on that phone of his, kora?”

“More times than I liked to admit.” Reborn sneered with a glare.

“All it would take is one stupid kid posting something on the internet and decades of Omerta will be tossed out the window.” Verde rolled his eyes. “The panic alone would cause trouble for any government, especially since civilians have a tendency to run around like chickens with their heads cut off.”

“But what do you mean, if Skull had previous dealings with them?” Fon asked with a frown.

“Don’t you think it’s a bit suspicious how Skull ended up in America? How his forged documents were conveniently mistaken for real documents, thus giving him nationalization status after they were lost in a fire?” Verde questioned taking off his glasses to clean the lenses. “Don’t you remember what was going on before we were cursed?”

“The Cold War.” Lal sighed as she seemed to deflate into her seat. “Even Colonnello and I were caught up in it.”

“The reason you were posing as a mercenary?” Viper asked turning to look at the two Rains inquisitively.

“Something like that.” Colonnello answered getting a huff from Lal.

“Our division worked closely with military intelligence. With the growing unrest, we weren’t exactly bored.” Lal offered, perhaps as close to admitting what they did back in the military as she would ever get.

“So,” Fon put in as he folded his arms into his sleeve, “the question would be just which government did Skull work for?”

“And how long was he in?” Lal added with a frown. “His records say he was seventeen when he started stunt shows.”

“His false records you mean.” Verde put in with a huff as he slid his glasses back onto his nose.

“Well,” Colonnello began lightly, “we know he wasn’t Grecian in ethnicity.”

That got a snort from a few of them.

“If we are looking at intelligence groups, we’ll have to be careful.” Viper cut in with a frown. “Even I don’t have many contacts with that side of the law.”

“Kyoko-chan first.” Reborn said grimly. “We’ll grill Skull once the idiot returns. It’ll have a remarkably less chance of jailtime as a result.”

Colonnello almost smiled because none of them could argue with that.


	7. Reconnaissance

Despite it being summer, the early morning hours in Namimori were still cool enough that he burrowed into his green tactical jacket. It would warm up later with a few scattered clouds now that the storm the day previous let up overnight. But in the pre-dawn hours with everything washed in gray light, he was trying not to let his teeth chatter.

Colonnello figured he ought to take a few missions off the island more often. He could remember the days when he was conditioned to fight in below freezing temperatures. The tropical climate that was the norm for Mafia Land was making him soft.

“Report.”

He blinked once as he tilted his head. “She hasn’t made it here yet. You said she was in a blue rental right?”

“Yes.” Viper’s voice came over the communicator thoughtfully. “So far the GPS hasn’t changed course too much. She should be in your line of sight in a few minutes.”

“Roger.” He tried not to sigh. “I’ll let you know when she shows up.”

Admittedly he had a good spot as he sprawled out on the rooftop of one of the neighboring houses. Despite having his anti-tank gun slung over his back, he was scanning the street with a pair of high-power binoculars that cut through the early morning gloom. He was still unsure about the illusion laying over him like a camo net, but he always trusted Viper to be the best.

Best or not, Renegade was trained by Skull.

Shaking those thoughts out of his head, he noted the lone car almost coasting around the corner. He tensed as he watched the blue nondescript sedan come to rest just down the road. There was nothing that said that the car was anything important, but that was before the driver stepped out.

Renegade didn’t look much different from the day previous. The only difference he could spot was she traded the corset for a grey turtleneck. Outwardly, disregarding her punk style, she looked like any other person coming to visit a friend after arriving from an early morning flight.

“Target spotted.” He whispered just in case.

He tried not to stare too hard as Renegade pulled out a slip of paper and began down the sidewalk. Despite the sunglasses covering her eyes, he could tell she was checking house numbers as she went. Not for the first time, Colonnello wondered just why Renegade seemed to be interested in the Miura family.

It didn’t make sense or sit well with him as he watched her steady path towards the house across from the one, he was on top of. Just like Skull didn’t make much sense the more they went digging for information. But something in his gut told him this was significant.

Renegade paused on the sidewalk just in front of where he was hunkered down. She took a moment to check the slip of paper against the house number of the Miura residence. Then she casually looked both ways before lightly jogging across the street, the sip of paper sliding into her leather jacket.

He had done a cursory once over of the residence before making it to his nest. The house had appeared dark and uninhabited from the outside. There were also indications that the occupants of the residence hadn’t been there for at least a few days, fitting what Hibari had told them about the father-daughter pair being out of town.

“She reached the location.” He reported trying to muffle his words without sounding incoherent. He wasn’t lying when he said he suspected her Flames enhanced her senses.

“I have her on camera.” Viper reported simply. “She’s going around to the side.”

Colonnello hummed in affirmative. Viper would now oversee keeping track of her movements. Instead the sniper switched to keep a look out for anyone being a bit too nosey.

Reborn wanted them to figure out what Renegade was up to without drawing attention to the Cloud. She was their only link to the Carcassa now and already there were plans to head to Berlin after dealing with the threat to Kyoko. Colonnello wasn’t sure how many of them would be going, but he knew he was on the list.

So that meant as of right now they were going to be discretely helping Renegade in whatever it is she was doing. The problem being they only knew her being in Namimori had to do with the Miura family in some way. Colonnello wasn’t sure how, and that was one of the things bothering him.

Skull hadn’t shown any interest in Haru Miura that Colonnello was aware of. In fact, Colonnello was rather surprised Renegade even knew of Haru Miura and her association with the Vongola. It would spell bad news if it wasn’t just the Carcassa that had been aware of the girl after all.

Sudden movement out of the corner of his eye caught Colonnello’s attention. He turned slightly noticing another car had parked on the street. It was a dark grey sedan, parked just out of the light of a streetlight.

He tensed as he narrowed his eyes. The new car was parked facing the one Renegade drove to get there and even in the dim light Colonnello could spot two occupants in the car. He couldn’t make out details, but it was suspicious all the same.

“We’ve got company just down the road.” Colonnello said lowly. “Grey, sedan, two occupants.”

“Are they doing anything?” Viper asked quietly.

“Negative.” Colonnello frowned. “Just sitting there.”

“Target just entered the location using the east side window. Keep an eye to see if she leaves. I’ll go see what I can do about our company.” Viper said making Colonnello relax just a tad.

“Affirmative.” Colonnello turned his attention to the house again. He wanted to tell Viper to be careful but knew the Mist wouldn’t appreciate the gesture.

The next five or so minutes stretched out like hours. Renegade was somewhere within the Miura household, doing god only knew what. Meanwhile Viper was sneaking up behind the occupants of the unidentified car to see to it they didn’t interfere.

Colonnello held his breath as he noticed Renegade slipping out of the shadows of the gate in the yard of the Miura household.

“She’s on the move.” His calm voice at odds with his suddenly beating heart.

“They’re out.” Viper said simply making him suppress a sigh.

Just then Renegade calmly walked out onto the sidewalk with a bag slung over her shoulder. Even at the distance without his binoculars, Colonnello could spot the deep frown on her black painted lips. There was a slight purple hue in the polarized lenses of the sunglasses she was wearing, signaling her Flames were close to the surface.

Whatever brought her to the Miura household seemed to have ticked her off. Colonnello wondered if it was because her targets weren’t there. Or if something else was going on and they just didn’t have the info yet.

Colonnello noted the moment Renegade spotted the other car. Her frown deepened as she tilted her head down just a tad to let her glowing purple eyes look at it. Then with an obvious snort she twirled around on her toes to powerwalk to her car.

He watched her toss the bag into the passenger seat as she slipped behind the wheel. Then calmly she started the engine and pulled out of her parking spot. The car drove down the road, slowing a tad more than normal as it passed the sedan with the two occupants.

Then her car glided around the corner and was gone.

“She’s on the move.” Colonnello said even as he carefully began getting down from the roof he was on.

“I have her on the map. You should have a few more minutes before our guests come out of the illusion. Go over there and see what she was up to.” Viper said making Colonnello roll his eyes since he was already crossing the street.

It wasn’t hard to find the window Renegade used to get in. Since he didn’t want to disturb the place any more than it had been, he followed her path. It landed him right in the dining area of the kitchen/living room.

It was a quaint house, not much different from any of the other residences in the area. There were a few pictures hanging up in the hall as he made it towards the stairs. He decided to check the other large room downstairs on his way out, instead focusing on the upper rooms first since the living area seemed bare of clues.

He found Miura-sensei’s room first since it was the master bedroom. Nothing inside was disturbed and everything seemed in order. So, he carefully closed the door and head to the other rooms.

Finding Haru’s room wasn’t that hard. He took a moment to check over the room since he suspected Renegade had been in this one for a bit. There was a lingering feel of Cloud Flames in the air, likely leakage due to her growing ire.

There was a noticeable section of clothes missing from the closet. He also found a clear spot in the faint film of dust where a bag had likely sat. Another once over suggested nothing else was disturbed.

“I think she took some of Haru’s clothes.” Colonnello whispered in the silent room.

“Why would she do something like that?” Viper questioned even as Colonnello silently made it down the stairs again.

“I’m not sure. I have one more place to check and then I’m out.” Colonnello said turning to what was likely the living room on the floorplan.

The room was blocked off by a pair of French doors with curtains over the inlaid lattice windows. As he turned the doorknob to enter, he was first hit with a fowl stench that haunted his nightmares on his worst nights. The thick decaying scent of rotten meat and old blood that was often accompanied with the sharp scent of expended bullets.

Instead there was no sharp metallic scent of gun shot residue. It was enough for him to blink out of the image of a soldier lying in a growing pool of blood. But the image was replaced by the dimly lit horror show in front of him.

Miura-sensei lay on the wooden floor of his home clothed only in his boxers with his hands and feet bound. Vacant brown eyes stared up at the ceiling from a face puffy with decomposition. The advanced decay keeping the man’s exact cause of death a mystery, but Colonnello could spot dried tear tracks on the man’s face despite it all.

There was a large pool of dark congealed blood under the body. Colonnello would bet money that the man’s assailants had left the man to bleed out slowly. Colonnello forced himself to look away even as he noticed the increase of flies in the air of the room.

Focusing on the walls, Colonnello saw each one was lined with tall bookshelves. Hundreds of books surrounded the room and lead to a nice desk with stacks of papers. Careful not to disturb anything more than he had, he made it over to check the desk.

Ungraded college thesis papers and various other school related documents were resting in neat towers. Among the carefully constructed piles, there was a framed photograph of the man lying not far from Colonnello and a grinning girl in a prestigious high school uniform. He closed his eyes and looked away from the picture and made his way back out of the office/library.

It was as he was closing the door he looked over to where the front entrance was. Sitting neatly next to where the slippers were located were several suitcases. Colonnello took a breath trying to rid his nose of the stench from the other room.

“Viper.” He managed to strain out. “We have a problem.”

 

 

 

The one good thing, Colonnello mused, was that the Varia were in town. Xanxus didn’t even ask when Viper told him to send some people to clean up the Miura residence. Even Hibari had the police looking the other way as the Mafia took care of one of their own.

Not that Miura-sensei ever knew he was considered part of the family. Haru’s association to the Vongola however had some weight. Besides, it was always bad for business when some of the few unaware civilians helping a Famiglia ended up dead for no reason.

As far as the public would be concerned, Miura-sensei died tragically in an accident while on vacation with his daughter.

The downside, however, was now the kids were demanding answers. While usually they could probably play it off as Arcobaleno business. Miura-sensei was dead and Haru was now missing.

“Reborn.” Tsuna hissed angerly with eyes alit with Sky Flames. “What is going on?”

Tsuna, Xanxus, and Hibari had shown up at the temporary headquarters in Reborn’s safehouse almost as soon as they learned why Varia minions were cleaning up the Miura residence. Luckily, they had a few minutes of warning so all their research into Skull was safely tucked away. Currently the trio, along with Xanxus’s and Tsuna’s guardians were crowded around the dinner table on one side.

Colonnello stood with Fon leaning against the wall since the others took up seats on the other side of the table. Colonnello had his arms crossed with the familiar weight of his favorite gun resting across his back. Fon wasn’t much better with his hands tucked in his sleeves as he smiled serenely at the children.

Reborn’s hum drew Colonnello out of his assessment of the room.

“Two days ago, we received word that an associate of Skull’s was heading into town.” Reborn said simply. “They’re here for their own reason but agreed to meet up to discuss the collapse of the Carcassa.”

Only Colonnello’s training kept his face blank and the snort of amusement from escaping him.

“Since we didn’t want them to cause any trouble given the other threat currently hanging over the Vongola, we opted to keep an eye on them. Turns out they went looking for Miura-sensei, why we don’t know yet, and that’s how we came across what happened at the Miura residence.”

“What other threat?” Tsuna asked blinking as a bit of his anger evaporated.

“There’s a hit on your girlfriend.” Xanxus offered offhandedly making Tsuna look at him with wide eyes.

“WHAT?! Since when?!” Tsuna spluttered and again Colonnello fought to keep his humor to himself.

“It was issued just a week or two ago.” Squalo reported with a shrug. “It’s the reason we’re still here. We’ve been looking into it since it was brought to our attention. There’s going to be quite the number of assassins trying to get in on the hit so we figured you could use the extra help.”

Tsuna blinked before settling and then almost glaring at Reborn. “And Haru?”

“Missing.” Reborn said airily. “Likely taken by whoever killed Miura-sensei. Given her and her father were supposed to be out of town for several weeks and it appears they didn’t even get to their car. We assume they’ve had her for some time.”

Tsuna gritted his teeth angrily. The cool glare Hibari had was also telling. In fact, even Xanxus was frowning, something Colonnello knew meant the Varia Leader was not pleased.

“And the herbivore’s associate had no hand in this?” Hibari cut in coolly.

“Miura’s corpse was moving towards the later state of decomposition.” Verde muttered as he worked on his laptop. “Skull’s minion was in Europe for most of the last year. We would have known if they came here previously.”

From where Colonnello was standing he could see the GPS they attached to Renegade’s car traveling on a map of the city. She had gone back to her hotel room first but had since been methodically canvassing the neighborhoods all day. Verde had volunteered to keep track of the woman for now.

“Are you going to contact them to see what they know?” Xanxus asked glaring at Viper who was seated on the Arcobaleno side of the table.

“We have requested a meeting.” Viper said simply.

It was more like Reborn held a gun to Colonnello’s head so he would text Renegade, but they didn’t need to know that.

“As of yet they haven’t responded. We will of course keep you informed when they do.” Viper finished simply getting a nod from Xanxus.

“Where’s Skull-san?” Tsuna then asked looking them over.

“He’s out on a mission.” Reborn said simply. “We would call him back, but right now he’s been forced under radio silence.”

That seemed to ease at least the Varia while Tsuna blinked at his tutor a bit confused. Again, Colonnello had to curb his amusement. There was still a lot the boy needed to learn before he was given the full reigns of the Vongola.

“For now,” Reborn stressed lightly, “I suggest you focus on Kyoko-chan. We will see what we can do about Haru-chan and those responsible for the death of Miura-sensei.”

Tsuna looked down and was silent for a minute. The boy chewed on his lip as he clenched his fists on the table. It was obvious Tsuna would rather be looking for his lost friend, but the gravity of Kyoko’s situation was also weighing him down.

“Okay,” Tsuna said looking up, “what’s already being done?”

Colonnello had to give the don-in-training some props. The boy was driven when it came to protecting those he cared about. Though the kid still got a little green over the suggestions of killing that were being thrown about.

Colonnello tuned most of it out. He knew because he was the only one of them that could successfully contact Renegade that he would be dealing with the Haru situation. Not that he didn’t care about Kyoko, she was a sweet girl and Colonnello did still like Ryohei having gotten to know the boy while he was training him.

Renegade however had been Colonnello’s student before Reborn asked his assistance.

Still Colonnello listened in enough to add in a few suggestions. He still remembered the layout of the Sasagawa residence and from what he could tell it hadn’t changed since his stay. His security suggestions were added to the growing list, especially when Ryohei backed up Colonnello’s knowledge.

Meanwhile the dot that was Renegade’s care had made it to a slightly richer part of Namimori. Colonnello wondered what the girl was searching for, or even why she was searching. Despite what Reborn said, Colonnello knew Renegade was there for Haru rather than Miura-sensei.

Suddenly the dot stopped for a long minute. Colonnello almost tilted his head curiously since for the past few hours, Renegade only stopped to fuel up her car before she was on the move again. He wondered if Renegade had found what she was looking for finally.

Then his phone vibrated in his pocket.

He almost grinned as he pulled it out. Sure, enough there was a text response to the one he sent to Renegade. The response was short and to the point, just the address near where Renegade’s care had stop and a simple request.

“ _Bring Mammon_.”

Colonnello didn’t need to be told twice. Instead he glanced around the room, noting the kids where deep in the discussion about how to keep Kyoko safe. They were distracted enough that Colonnello could move forward and lightly tug Viper’s cloak.

The Mist gracefully slid out of their chair and followed him to the door. A glance back showed an illusionary Viper still seated at the table with the others. Colonnello nodded and the two headed out the door.

“Mou, what is it?” Viper asked as Colonnello directed them to the car.

“Ren,” Colonnello said absently shoving the phone into the Mist’s hand.

“Oh, good.” Viper smirked as Colonnello pulled out. “But why does she want me to come?”

“Knowing Ren,” Colonnello almost chuckled, “she noticed the illusion you put on those guys in the car early this morning.”

“She really was trained by some of the best.” Viper said pleasantly.

“It shows doesn’t it?” Colonnello asked with a grin. “I bet she’d run circles around even Reborn if she was given just a bit more training.”

Despite the hood obscuring most of Viper’s features, Colonnello noticed their smirk.

“I wonder if her mother is still alive.” Viper suddenly said as Colonnello turned on the main road to get to where Renegade was currently camping out.

“Possibly.” Colonnello hummed. “I’m not too sure about her grandmother, however. I remember her vaguely mentioning she didn’t have one back when she was younger.”

“Truly?” Viper asked turning to Colonnello.

“It was an argument we were having about her manners.” Colonnello smirked thinking back to that. “Back when she was thirteen and as agreeable as a wild animal. I tried to use that old, what would your grandmother think of you trick, and she spat back that she only ever met her grandmother twice when she was little. I already know her paternal grandmother was dead before she was born, Skull may have mentioned it once.”

“Why would he do that?” Viper asked sounding suspicious.

“During one of our calls where I updated him about her training, I was wondering if Renegade had any good female role models. I was still trying to pound some sense of manners into her at the time. Skull mentioned that she had none on her father’s side of the family but didn’t go into detail about her mother’s side.”

“Likely to avoid admitting she was a blood relation.” Viper said thoughtfully.

“Probably, but there was also a lot of crashing and swearing on his side of the line. I figured he forgot to add it while dealing with whatever was going on.” Colonnello figured that was the case now that he knew a bit more about what was going on in Skull’s life.

“So why do you think Renegade went searching for Haru?” Viper asked after a beat of silence. “We both know Reborn was lying through his teeth.”

“She mentioned having a Lightning while we were talking on the phone a few days back.” Colonnello said vaguely. “I can’t remember if Haru Miura had Flames and if she did what type. But I have this feeling its tied to that.”

“If she is Renegade’s Lightning, it would explain the rage we saw.” Viper said simply getting a nod.

They lapsed into silence after that. Colonnello desperately wanted to ask Viper what they thought off all this. But at the same time Colonnello knew the Mist would charge him through the nose for that information.

Viper was such a greedy miser.

 

 

 

Renegade was pacing when they finally came up to her. The woman was carefully counting out each step as she stalked forward ten paces before abruptly turning and heading ten paces in the opposite direction. It was hypnotizing especially since her Flames hung lightly in the air, broadcasting her anger to the two of them rather easily.

“Uh, hey Ren.” Colonnello ventured not wanting to set off an enraged Cloud.

“Colonnello!” She half snapped half cheered as she sharply turned towards them. “And Mammon, is it?”

“You and Skull can call me Viper.” Mammon said simply getting a blink from Renegade who had her glasses back on the top of her head.

“I’ll let him know.” She said vaguely before shaking her head. “But not important.”

Colonnello relaxed as he felt himself smile. She was still enraged, he didn’t doubt that. But like Skull, Renegade could prioritize while angered.

Deadly, sure, but less likely of causing collateral damage.

“So why are we here?” Viper asked politely as they relaxed as well.

“I need help, sort of, kind of…” Renegade trailed off turning to look at something through the patch of trees she had been standing in.

They were in a rather nice park with a dense crop of trees. Colonnello and Viper had passed families of smartly dressed business men and women with their little kids as they went towards the concentration of irritated Cloud Flames. Luckily Viper said nothing as they cast an illusion over them, so no one questioned the strange duo as they walked past.

“Ren, remember to use your words.” Colonnello almost teased even as she scowled cutely over her shoulder at him.

“Fine fucker.” Renegade grumbled even as she motioned for them to follow. “Since you decided to stalk me this morning, I assume you know about Miura-sensei.”

Colonnello nodded as he fought not to cringe.

“Part of the fucking memories I got,” she gave a casual wave, “Haru talked about this.”

“Uh?” Colonnello blinked.

“She was taken in _That_ future?” Viper asked simply.

“Yea.” Renegade said pushing her side swept bangs behind her ear only for them to fall back into her face. “We knew each other, cause Haru got worried she’d be a liability. She’s a smart girl and quick on the uptake when she wants to be. Since the bastard Reborn wasn’t going to help her, she went through the whole list before landing on Boss.”

“You trained her.” Viper said simply getting a nod from Renegade.

“It was after this supposedly happened the first time. She had been in a bad way when the Vongola finally found her. Said if she could go back, she’d wish I was around to help earlier. I’ve been up to my tits in work these past few years, but I still tried to keep an eye on her.”

“What happened that made you come here then?” Colonnello asked with a frown.

“The minion I got watching her mentioned the trip her and her dad was supposed to go on. It drudged up the memory of us talking about it. So, I figured better safe than sorry and booked the first flight I could. I was just going to go in, make sure this time they were safe on their trip, and get back to my work without having to worry about it. I figured that fucker Sawada would have been a bit more protective given he had a wakeup call earlier on.”

“Instead there were no extra protections and you found Miura-sensei dead in his library.” Viper surmised lightly.

“You got it.” Renegade said with a smirk. “But she didn’t give me really good details, so I had to spend the rest of the morning and early afternoon piecing it together from what she did tell me.”

“How long has she been missing?” Viper asked sharply getting a shrug from Renegade.

“A week and a half, if they really got them the day the two were supposed to leave. I knew I should have had my minion check earlier, but those two inspectors have been running the guy ragged.”

“The ones in the other car.” Colonnello said blinking before understanding what was going on. “Right, so you found her?”

“And the group that took her.” Renegade said motioning to the large stone wall she led them to. “I know I’m pretty talented, but one against some fifty-odd gunman is a bit of a stretch even for me.”

Colonnello grabbed the back of Renegade’s coat when she moved to jump up onto the wall. She gave a squawk as she suddenly landed on her butt. Still Viper grinned down at her pleasantly.

“We haven’t agreed to help just yet.” Viper said crossing their arms.

“You do know she’s being tortured for information, right?” Renegade pointed out with as much dignity as she could muster there on the ground.

“Well yes.” Viper nodded. “But we aren’t just going to go storming in.”

Renegade groaned and flopped towards her side. If Colonnello hadn’t had a firm hold on her jacket, the woman would have sprawled herself on the earthen floor with her back to Viper. Colonnello didn’t fight his eyeroll as he was once again reminded of Skull at the stuntman’s most dramatic.

“You two are definitely related in some way.” Colonnello heard himself say before he cringed.

“I deny everything!” Renegade shot back pointing at him. “They’re all lies! I want my lawyer!”

Viper cleared their throat. “As I was saying. We will be observing our targets for now. It will give Reborn and the others time to meet up with us to assist in the retrieval of Haru Miura.”

“When did I fucking sign up for this shit?” Renegade asked incredulously.

“When you asked us to be your backup.” Colonnello said pleasantly getting a dramatic sigh from his student.

“Fine.” She groaned crossing her arms. “But I will deny knowing you if we end up getting arrested.”

“Fair enough.” Colonnello nodded with a grin as he let her go. “So, now that’s covered, let’s see what we can do for reconnaissance.”

Viper helpfully provided communicators out of nowhere. Colonnello already began texting Verde with the info they just got. And Renegade was muttering curses as she drew out what she knew of the gated in manor in the dirt of with the help of a stick she grabbed nearby.

Colonnello smiled as he heard a rather creative insult about his mother from those black lips. It was always nice to be working with his student, especially when she was being relatively pleasant. Maybe after this they could drag her back to Reborn’s safe house to see what else she could tell them about Skull and his minions.

The look Viper shot him said the Mist was thinking along the same lines.


	8. Mission Success

The manor Renegade had led them to looked like any other opulent manor Colonnello had seen. It was three stories at most above ground and had a potentially finished basement. According to Renegade’s intel, Haru Miura would be held in a room in the basement.

“Anything yet?” He asked into the coms as he sat in a sniper’s nest with the main entrance in sight.

“We’re picking up chatter that suggests our target is there.” Verde began.

“Good!” Renegade cut in. “So, let’s storm the place!”

“But we haven’t confirmed anything yet.” Verde finished calmly.

“Look, I know she’s there. You know she’s there, even if you’re not fucking admitting to it. So why the hell are we just standing here?”

“You’re not standing.” Viper calmly put in. “You’re pacing.”

“Only because **_someone_** trapped me in a Mist cage that I can’t fucking break, or we will lose our shitty element of surprise.”

“We wouldn’t need the cage if you were a good girl and not trying to start trouble.”

“Oh honey,” Renegade suddenly purred, “I can show you how good a girl I can be. You need only ask.”

Colonnello fought down a sigh, “Verde, the ETA of the others.”

“Ten minutes. Any change?”

“Negative.” Colonnello stressed ignoring the weird flirting argument going on between Renegade and Viper. He really didn’t need to think about chains in that context while on a mission.

It was a long ten minutes before Colonnello left his nest to meet up with the others. He almost laughed at what he saw when he got there. Renegade was indeed in a cage, only now it was just big enough for her to sit on the ground with her arms crossed.

“She’s in time out.” Viper stated calmly to his grin.

“Fuck,” Renegade paused to take an aggravated breath while pointing at Viper, “ _you_.”

“Careful,” Colonnello smirked, “you might lose tea privileges at this rate.”

“Like hell,” Renegade snarled. “You don’t own me, bastard.”

“So, you’re the infamous Renegade we heard so much about.” Reborn stated as he and the others entered their little clearing in the wooded area that Renegade had first brought them to.

“What of it?” Renegade shot back with a glare. “You got something to say to me, whore?”

“Ren,” Colonnello sighed into his hand, “manners.”

He didn’t need to look up to know the glare was now directed at him. Instead he just massaged the bridge of his nose as he felt a mild headache coming on. He really hoped Viper remembered to disarm the Carcassa Cloud, or shots would be fired sooner rather than later.

“Oh, forgive me for shitting on your sensibilities.” Renegade said a little too sweetly.

Colonnello sent her a look he perfected during his time training her.

“What?” Renegade whined. “I fucking apologized.”

“Try it again.” Colonnello almost ordered. “But with less sarcasm.”

Renegade shot him a rude gesture before following it up with a set of the most innocent and pathetic puppy dog eyes he had seen in a while.

“You’re hopeless.” Colonnello monotoned before turning to the others. “So, what’s the plan, kora?”

It was only then that Colonnello noticed Reborn, Fon, and Lal had brought Belphegor, Squalo, and Lussuria with them. Verde, like they previously agreed on, was back at base manning the computers. The Arcobaleno Rain wondered where the other missing Varia were.

“Tsuna wanted to come as well.” Reborn said likely reading Colonnello’s unasked question. “We felt it best if he stayed at the safe house. Xanxus is keeping an eye on him while Leviathan helps Verde with the technical side of things.”

“So far the blueprints they managed to dig up have been proven accurate based on the wiretap of the surveillance cameras.” Fon added with a smirk. “We figure hitting them hard and fast in the more vulnerable spots of their security perimeter will allow for two or three of us to slip inside unnoticed.”

“So, Ren, Lussuria, and…” Colonnello trailed off.

“Fon.” Renegade put in simply. “He’s the fastest of the lot of you and should be able to keep up.”

Colonnello raised an eyebrow at her, only to get a shrug in response.

“What? He probably can help with any doors as well. Unless you want a repeat of that time you asked me to help with renovations on the island.” She pointed out and Colonnello didn’t hide his cringe.

“Right, no punching holes through reinforced walls.” Colonnello agreed turning to Reborn who frowned slightly before nodding at the plan. “So where will the rest of us be?”

Colonnello wasn’t surprised to find himself stationed in a sniper’s nest. What was surprising however was the fact he was now facing the side entrance. It was also the entrance that Reborn stressed to Renegade several times over that she should take.

Colonnello would have told him she already agreed after the first semi-insulting statement to leave her mouth. But he had a bit of fun seeing how far she could take the slightly backhanded comments. He also wondered if Reborn caught on, or if he was too annoyed with her offhanded dismissals to notice.

Fon had certainly hid his chuckles in his sleeve while Viper was unnaturally blank in their expression. Even Lal’s usually serious frown on missions appeared just a slightly bit strained as she kept glancing at the caged Cloud. Honestly, if Renegade wasn’t so young and female, Colonnello would have sworn Skull was the one currently in time out.

Regardless, everyone was set within a few minutes. Colonnello knew they were on a time crunch, even if the other Arcobaleno wouldn’t admit to it. If they could secure Haru quickly, that meant more time to try and extract some more information out of Renegade.

Not that Colonnello had any high hopes of getting more information, but they had to try at least.

Colonnello pushed those thoughts from his mind to focus on his mission. He was going to provide cover fire from afar, but he was also guarding the trio’s escape route for when they acquired Haru. Not that he thought Renegade and Fon needed cover fire, but they had Lussuria to think about.

For a long moment the area was still. The others were all in place, just waiting for Reborn to give the signal to go. The tree Colonnello was currently hunkered down in was warm from the mid-afternoon sun, with a slight lightly humid breeze coming in from the east blowing the leaves.

The first shot that rang out shattered the quiet calm.

Colonnello let his eyes drift down to where he could still see the cage that held Renegade. It was now slowly dissolving into thin air, allowing for the Cloud to get to her feet and stretch. His eyes darted quickly to the top of the fence.

Renegade was suddenly there with a faint purple flicker fading around her form.

“Come on!” She demanded as she beckoned the Arcobaleno Storm and Varia Sun to follow her. “Keep up, fuckers!”

Her matte black lips were pulled back into a familiar maniacal grin. Her slightly glowing eyes were behind the polarized lenses of her sunglasses. And Colonnello could spot the semi-automatic pistol she clutched in her other hand as that arm rested on her bent knee.

Renegade pitched herself backwards and almost rolled over the top of the fence out of view. Fon suddenly appeared right where she had been, with Lussuria just a second behind on his right. Colonnello smirked as he watched what could only be called a faint shadow darting across the open expanse of yard between the fence and side of the house.

Renegade was suddenly near the side door with her back pressed against the wall, gun at the ready just in case. Fon appeared next to her with his arms tucked into his sleeves and an indulgent smile on his lips. Lussuria was half a second slower than the other two as far as Colonnello could tell.

Still the trio slipped into the manor unnoticed after Fon used some Storm Flames to take care of the lock.

Colonnello shifted his attention to the other areas of the yard. Most of the fighting was happening on the other side of the house and just by the sounds of it was probably bloody. Colonnello didn’t have a communicator for the Varia but he could pick up Belphegor’s maniacal laugh over Lal’s coms just fine.

“Verde, we’re in the east hall.” Fon’s soft calm voice cut in.

“Clear.” Renegade muttered after what sounded like a muffled shot.

“Head down the hall and take the third right. There is a basement entrance on your left near the main stairs.” Verde commanded.

“All movement is indicating they are going to the hole Lal made in the west wall.” Renegade reported simply.

“You can hear that?” Lussuria asked sounding surprised.

“Cloud Flames, bitch.” Renegade responded with a slight laugh to her voice.

“We found the entrance.” Fon reported.

“It’s clear.” Renegade said likely having been the first to go down. “I’m not picking up a whole lot of activity down here. Possibly four or five combatants further in.”

“I have complete control of the cameras.” Verde said simply. “There should be a camera in the corner above the stairs you just went down.”

“Like hell am I going to be caught on camera around here.” Renegade muttered even though Colonnello could hear Fon chuckling.

“Good, head down the hall and take the right.” Verde said after probably confirming the trio where in the spot he thought they were in.

Colonnello doubted Renegade would be seen on any of the cameras as he heard Verde instructing them towards where Haru was likely being held.

Colonnello spotted movement out of the corner of his eye and watched as a group from the mansion ran around the yard. He followed them as they missed the broken door and continued. He smirked and shook his head at the flanking maneuver.

“Reborn, a group is headed your way around the right side. They’re trying to flank you by going around the house.” Colonnello reported.

“Roger, any other complications?” Reborn asked likely getting ready for the new attack.

“None that I can see.” Colonnello reported.

“We’re almost to the location where Haru is likely being held.” Fon reported even as they could hear slightly muffled shots in the background. “Renegade is just taking down the small strike team in our way.”

“Let me know when you’re moving out.” Colonnello requested as he scanned the east yard and wall for any other surprises.

“Will do.” Fon reported before everything smoothed into minimal chatter again.

In all honesty, Colonnello could see how just he, Viper, and Renegade could have pulled this off. It would have taken even less effort especially with Renegade’s ability to anticipate enemies and Viper’s skill in illusions. Colonnello would of course again have been watching the retreat but otherwise it would have been less of a production if they were the ones to locate and extract Haru.

But as it stood, the Varia would likely be the ones to take all the credit. There might be some given to the Arcobaleno, given that Reborn and Lal were very visible. But Renegade’s involvement, no matter which plan they had gone with, would have been none existent.

Colonnello took half a second to wonder if anyone realized Renegade was in Japan to begin with.

“We’ve located Haru-chan.” Fon reported solemnly.

“Renegade-chan, can you go find a blanket?” Lussuria asked rather close to Renegade’s coms.

“Sure babe, make sure she can be moved without damage.” Renegade said faintly before likely moving to do as she was asked.

“Injuries?” Reborn asked curtly.

“A lot of bruising and a broken arm. We’ll know more when we get her back to the safehouse.” Fon reported after relaying Reborn’s request to Lussuria.

“Got a blanket. I also got some of her clothes in my rental.” Renegade said probably rejoining the other two.

“Okay, is it clear for us to move out?” Fon asked simply getting an affirmative hum from Renegade. “Colonnello?”

“Coast is clear up here.” Colonnello said scanning the area again.

“Let’s head back the way we came.” Fon said. “Lussuria can you carry her or would you rather I do it?”

“I got her.” Colonnello could hear faintly.

“Alright, lets get out of here before they realize we’re here.” Renegade said simply and Colonnello was sure they started to move.

Several long tense seconds ticked by while Colonnello focused on making sure the yard was clear. He could hear Reborn and Lal coordinating so they attracted all the attention their way. He also knew Viper was likely casting a low-level illusion to make the hostiles wouldn’t think of checking on Haru just yet.

Suddenly the side door the trio used to get into the mansion slid open. Renegade’s head popped out into the open as she scanned the area. Then she slipped out with a motion for the other two to follow her.

The trio were up and over the wall almost faster than how they went in.

“Clear?” Renegade asked under Colonnello’s tree.

“Clear.” Colonnello said shouldering his anti-tank gun. “Lal, I’m heading out with the other three.”

“Roger.” Lal said over the coms.

“So, where’s your rental?” Fon asked as Colonnello landed lightly next to Renegade.

“I parked it over this way.” Renegade said motioning for them to follow.

The trip to the rental was short and quiet. Renegade had parked the car a bit out of the way in the far end of the parking lot to the park. Colonnello fought down a snort of approval as they slipped up to the vehicle.

“Help me with her clothes.” Lussuria said as he practically dragged Renegade into the back seat.

“Do you want to drive or should I?” Colonnello asked only for Fon to grin and hold up a set of car keys.

“Pick my pocket again, and I’ll end you, fucker.” Renegade announced even as she dragged a familiar backpack into the back seat to rifle through it. Colonnello snorted even as he went around the front of the car to hop into the front passenger seat.

“I wouldn’t mind you trying.” Fon said pleasantly. “It’s been a while since I last had a decent sparring partner.”

An angry hiss from the back made Colonnello smirk.

“No garroting the driver while the vehicle is in motion.” He called to the back.

“You take away all the fun in life, you know that right?” Renegade shot back even as he glanced over to find her eyeing a buttercream colored button up blouse she was holding up. “Think we can get her into this one?”

“It’d probably be best.” Lussuria said with a smile. “Did you also find some loose pants she can wear?”

“Sweatpants.” Renegade said pulling a pair of light gray sweatpants from deeper in the bag. “Underwear, yay or nay?”

“If you can get some on her. No bra though.” Lussuria said with a nod even as Colonnello felt the Sun glaring at him.

Colonnello turned back to facing the road ahead of them. “So how is she really?”

“She got stomped on a few times from the looks of it.” Lussuria said simply. “Some signs of starvation and dehydration. The injuries from her stomping are two maybe three days old at best. Likely from her not being forthcoming with information.”

“How bad would it have been if you hadn’t come around to talk to her father, Ren?” Colonnello asked simply. “You mentioned she went through this in that future that won’t be.”

“Eh, she done got fucked up in that future. She needed some pretty extensive reconstructive surgery by the time she pulled her body out of there. Internal bleeding, broken bones, several nasty scars from knife wounds. Your general rundown from slowly escalating torture. If I remember right, then for the past half a week it was mostly waterboarding and starvation.” Renegade reported.

Colonnello couldn’t quite hold back the displeased hum stuck in his throat. He caught how Fon’s hands tightened around the steering wheel. Not to mention the displeased tsk from Lussuria was loud enough to be heard throughout the car.

“You knew this might happen and only appeared now?” Lussuria asked sharply and Colonnello could almost feel Renegade’s eyeroll even though he wasn’t looking at them.

“I’ve been busy bitch. Besides, Miura Haru is supposed to be the Vongola’s responsibility. How the fuck was I to know that shitty up and coming don you guys got doesn’t give a rat’s ass about his friends’ safety?”

“I hate to say this,” Lussuria said hissing a sigh between his teeth, “but Tsuna-san cares deeply for his friends and wouldn’t purposely bring any harm to them.”

“Then why hadn’t the fucker thought to add some protection around the most vulnerable of his friends. Fuck, a simple call-in every other day would have saved Haru-chan a lot of this grief. It shouldn’t take an unaffiliated member of another Famiglia to show up and track down his friend’s family before he knew some shit, he probably should be worried about, was going down. Fuck, at the moment the dredges of what was once the Carcassa are flung all over to high heaven and I still have to call into base, or they’ll send a strike team to fucking check on me.”

Colonnello glanced back using the review mirror. Lussuria sat there with Haru leaning against his chest unconscious. The Sun was halfway done buttoning the blouse he had put on Haru and was currently gaping like a fish out of water.

Renegade started grumbling in a low growling tone as she finished gently wrestling on Haru’s sweatpants.

There was an odd silence over the coms as well. A glance showed Fon was frowning at the road ahead, though there was no trouble in front of them. Meanwhile Colonnello was fighting down a smile as he shook his head at Renegade’s outburst.

“Ren,” Colonnello began fighting down a chuckle, “the Vongola aren’t the Carcassa.”

“Clearly.” Renegade sneered. “Even that sack of shit don we had cared enough to know where his assets were at all times. Even though I really hated how he liked to consider the people working for him mere things he could use as tools.”

Right, Colonnello decided now would be a good time to steer the conversation away from that bit. He knew the opinion all of Skull’s minions had when it came to the Famiglia they worked for. He had heard their whining enough when he was rounding them up after the annual attack.

“So, what have you been busy with exactly? I know you’re not communication, so I doubt you’re on the team reconnecting Skull’s network.” Colonnello put in quickly.

“Huh?” Renegade asked suddenly out of her hedging into homicidal mood. “Oh, yea. Boss has me working double time to set things up for when he gets sent to jail in three months.”

“WHAT?!” Colonnello asked as Fon started as well.

“Oh? You didn’t know?” Renegade asked almost too innocently. “Boss is going to get set up in a few months by the Vongola. You know, if things haven’t changed too much from what they were in that future that won’t be.”

Whipping his head around, Colonnello realized his suspicions were true.

Renegade was indeed smiling rather nastily up at Lussuria. It wasn’t a kind expression, especially since there were so many teeth that were unnaturally sharp. Colonnello didn’t blame the man for losing quite a bit of his tanned complexion while being faced with that grin.

It was enough for Colonnello to slowly turn back around. He felt justified as he rose his hand to his temples and groaned into his palm. He could already hear the displeased hiss coming from Reborn over the coms and _knew_ this would be the worse twenty-four hours he had in a while.

He desperately hoped Skull and his family would stop with the dick punching soon.

Colonnello wasn’t sure he had the tolerance to keep going at this rate.


	9. Mission Debrief

Colonnello was glad that the drive was short after hearing that bomb being dropped. The slowly growing thud behind his temples was also grateful. He couldn’t wait to take a few pre-emptive aspirin.

Once the car came to a stop in the driveway another complication emerged.

“What the? Where the fuck are we?” Renegade hissed from the back.

“Safehouse.” Colonnello answered easily. “There’s a chance the guys we just took down had people watching Tsuna’s. We figured it would be safer not to take Haru there if they decide to do something suicidal.”

Looking over his shoulder he realized Renegade wasn’t convinced if the glare she was giving him was any indication.

“Yes,” Fon pitched in serenely, “Nana is currently out shopping. Kyoya-kun currently has eyes on her so she isn’t targeted.”

Colonnello wasn’t sure how true that was, but it got Renegade to relax again. Lussuria seemed to fight a smile even as he opened the door. The Sun slipped out only to duck back in to pull Haru’s still unconscious form from the vehicle with Renegade’s help.

“Whatever,” Renegade decided as she hopped out of the car and whirled on Fon with her hand extended. “My keys.”

“Don’t you want to come inside and wait for a bit? After all, you did seem concerned about Haru-chan’s condition.” Fon said with a small smile hidden behind his hand.

“I know here condition now.” Renegade said rolling her eyes. “She’s clearly stable. Now fuck off and give me back my keys.”

Colonnello sighed as he got out of the car. He had hoped it wouldn’t come down to a confrontation even as Fon exited the vehicle. Instead the Arcobaleno Rain headed for the front door to help let Lussuria inside so he could begin treating Haru.

He refused to look over his shoulder as the sounds of a hissing struggle began to take place. By the time Colonnello opened the door and turned to let Lussuria through he almost laughed. Jauntily following Lussuria with an almost shit-eating grin on his face was Fon.

Renegade casually tossed over the Martial Artist’s shoulder like a sack of rice as she struggled to get free.

“That’s it, you worthless fuck. When I get down, I’m gonna so rip your dick off with my bare hands. When I’m through with you, you won’t have a vagina.” Renegade hissed as she tried to push herself over Fon’s shoulder to get free. It only served to knock her glasses off her head, so they landed on the front step with a light clack. “My lenses!”

Colonnello didn’t know if he should laugh or sigh as he scooped up the fallen glasses. He shook his head as he stepped inside to close the door behind him as he slipped the sunglasses into one of the many pockets of his jacket. No doubt Renegade would want them back after she tried to punch Fon’s teeth in.

“Haru!”

“Get back here trash!” Xanxus snapped as he grabbed the back of Tsuna’s shirt collar. The future don gagged as his momentum was stopped. “Let Lussuria and the Trident fix her.”

Colonnello turned to watch Lussuria walk up the steps with Trident Shamal leading the way. He heard them talking about having a bed ready for the poor girl. So, he turned to where Fon was lugging Renegade towards the dining area, a decent enough place for a throwdown without disturbing Verde.

After a moment of trying to decide if he should help with Renegade, he decided Fon could handle it. Instead he ducked around the now arguing pair of Skies to see what Verde was up to. It was probably the safest place to be in the safehouse for now.

“So, any news?” Colonnello asked having taken out his communicator to avoid hearing Reborn’s sharp commands. The anger in the Arcobaleno Sun’s voice hadn’t helped the building headache Colonnello had.

“They finished fighting and are now just cleaning things up.” Verde said not looking up from his laptop. “They should be back in an hour or so. The Varia will oversee the major cleaning.”

Colonnello hummed in acknowledgement. Then he cringed as a loud crack filled the air from the dining room. He just hoped they didn’t destroy the dining table.

“Fon’s entertaining Renegade, I see.” Verde said pushing his glasses up from where they slipped down his nose.

“Better him than me.” Colonnello said with a wince. “She doesn’t look it, but she has a hell of a right hook.” Colonnello paused before eyeing the two still arguing Skies and lowered his voice so only Verde could hear, “What are we doing about that?”

“After Haru wakes up and is fully assessed, Reborn is kicking them out.” Verde said just as lowly. “We still have our current job to finish, plus we need some of the information Renegade has.”

“She isn’t going to like being questioned.” Colonnello offered.

“Not likely.” Verde said with a smirk. “But she seems pretty candid when trying to get a rise out of us.”

“That’s Ren for you.” Colonnello said with a smile and shrug. “What is the others’ view on this?”

“Reborn and Lal are out for blood.” Verde said making Colonnello nod. “Viper is muttering about money loss.” Colonnello cringed knowing that was never a good sign. “And you should already know how Fon is taking it.”

Which, to be honest, was a bit concerning as well. The Arcobaleno Storm hadn’t stopped frowning until they pulled into the driveway. Clearly Fon wasn’t pleased with what was going on either.

“And you?” Colonnello asked keeping his eyes on the still speaking Skies.

“I’ll be fine,” Verde began lightly, “once I figure out how the Vongola will betray one of ours.”

Colonnello was kind of glad they all liked Tsuna and owed him one. The poor kid had no idea how close he was to angering the worse group of criminals in the Mafia. If they were lucky, this could be fixed before the Vongola screwed Skull over.

It would reduce the complications that were around the corner at least. Colonnello liked to think himself relatively neutral where the Vongola were concerned. He had already paid back the CEDEF for helping him in the trials and outside of owing Tsuna one, he generally didn’t give much thought to the Vongola besides being polite to them.

But with Skull’s freedom on the table, well Colonnello wasn’t about to let that get taken away. The Arcobaleno Cloud at least earned the right to be free after all these years. The purple menace didn’t need to be stuck behind bars because it was convenient for the Vongola, favor owed or not.

Suddenly Tsuna huffed loudly and stomped over to one of the couches to flop down. Xanxus huffed as well before going over to a chair that hadn’t been there before Colonnello left to go meet up with Renegade. He absently wondered if the Varia Sky took the thing with him everywhere.

“So, anything new?” Leviathan asked as he came up to Verde and Colonnello. The Varia Lightning having gone over to side with his boss while Tsuna was being an overemotional brat.

“They are finishing their sweep of the place and will be here shortly.” Verde said blandly. “You’ll be able to send in the clean up teams in five to ten minutes.”

Sudden vibrating from one of Colonnello’s pockets made him jump slightly. Patting the pocket, he quickly pulled out the burn phone he took from Skull’s apartment. He checked the caller id this time, unsurprised to see it labeled as Unknown, but waved at Verde before lightly jogging out of the room.

“Hey.” He said as soon as he accepted the call and put the phone to his ear.

“I promised to check in. This is me checking in. I’m a man of my word.” Skull said sounding slightly tired.

“Thanks.” Colonnello sighed happily before pausing. “Do you have a moment?”

“Do I want to know why, you asking that, suddenly makes me uneasy?”

“Ren’s here.” Colonnello said pausing to peer into the dining room where Fon had Renegade pinned with an arm behind her back. “We just pulled Miura Haru out of a mansion where she was being held captive. Guess who led us there?”

“Fuck!” Skull’s voice hissed in a whisper. “I completely forgot about that. Shit!”

“Haru-chan will be fine based on the initial assessment.” Colonnello reported smoothly. “Her father…”

Skull gave a low growling whine to that. “I knew there was something I was forgetting.”

“Hey man,” Colonnello tried to soothe, “it’s… well not fine, but not a disaster. We got her, don’t worry about it.”

“Yea,” Skull sighed heavily, “yea, thanks. How’s she?”

“Ren? She’s currently being pinned down by Fon.” Colonnello offered with a bit of a smirk only to get a slight growl in return. “Oh! You mean Haru? Not too bad, broken arm, some bruising. I’m pretty sure the arm was because she was defending her face and or body while they kicked her. Ren says she was in their care no longer than a week and a half.”

“That’s… well not good but…”

“Yea.” Colonnello agreed lapsing in silence for a moment. “So, what happened next?”

“Sawada got his head in a tizzy, sent her somewhere safe and away.” Skull sounded annoyed not that Colonnello blamed him. “She got in contact with Sanguine after a lot of digging. She’s good with computers, Colonnello.”

“You can call me Rico if you want.” Colonnello cut in absently only to get a snort.

“Only if you call me Alex.” Skull shot back almost sounding like he was smirking. “Anyway, she had tried to track down a few of us. Couldn’t contact Viper cause, you know, Vongola. But she did get in contact with Fon and Verde, neither were really interested, cause again Vongola. I couldn’t help her directly cause of reasons, but Sanguine and Renegade…”

Colonnello snorted. “Because you were in jail?”

“She told you then.” Skull sounded like he was moping, it made Colonnello smile.

“Got time to talk about it?” Colonnello asked knowing Skull would be the better one to ask about it.

“Wish I did.” Skull paused for a second. “Is Ren nearby?”

Colonnello took the three steps backwards to once again glanced into the dining room. The situation hadn’t changed all that much, outside of Renegade having gone from cursing to generally hissing in anger. Fon just calmly pinned her down, not applying too much pressure to the arm he had twisted behind her back.

“She’s available.” Colonnello grinned. “You want to speak with her?”

“Why would I be asking if I didn’t?” Skull asked snidely.

Colonnello chuckled as he went over and held the phone to Renegade’s head. He ignored Fon’s raised eyebrow and Renegade’s scowl.

“Skull.” Colonnello said with a shrug.

“Boss?” Renegade asked before pausing. “Boss! Cómo estás?”

There was a pause as Renegade listened to whatever Skull was saying.

“Gotcha, I can do that.” Renegade said before giving a whine. “I’m a fucking saint, what are you talking about?” Renegade pouted for a second. “Fine, but only cause you asked. Want me to ask her anyway?” There was a short pause. “Gotcha, wanna talk to Cole again? …Kay, I’ll let him know.”

Renegade looked up at him with a pointed look making him chuckle. Colonnello stood up again but didn’t leave the room. He doubted Fon and Renegade minded if he talked to Skull in the dining room now that they knew who he was talking to.

“That girl, I swear.” Skull was muttering making Colonnello snort.

“She’s like a mini-female version of you.” Colonnello said simply getting a groan from Skull.

“Don’t I know it. Anyway, she’ll tell you what she can. I don’t know if I can call again, but I should be back around in ten to twenty days if you don’t hear from me.”

“And if I don’t hear from you by then?” Colonnello asked slightly relieved he now had a definitive window to work with.

“Call Ren, she’ll know what to do.” Skull said before there was an obvious shift of something across the line. “I… gotta go now.”

“Alright, talk to you then.” Colonnello said almost a little quickly. Whatever was going on over on Skull’s side of the phone felt unnerving, so Colonnello wasn’t too upset that Skull just hung up on him. Hopefully his Cloud could take care of himself in the meantime.

Colonnello paused to look down at Renegade who was no longer cursing or struggling. “I take it he said to be on your best behavior.”

“No shit sherlock.” Renegade shot back with a pout.

“So, if Fon lets you up?” Colonnello offered.

“I won’t break his face unless provoked.” Renegade groaned in disappointment causing Fon to laugh slightly.

Just like that Fon let Renegade go and even offered her a hand up. Renegade seemed reluctant before sighing and letting the Storm haul her to her feet. Colonnello smiled and shook his head at the two of them before turning as something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye.

Lying in an innocent pile was the splintered remains of one of the dining chairs. He raised an eyebrow at it before turning to survey the room. Only that single chair was broken and out of place, everything else appeared just as it had been that morning when he walked through to get breakfast.

Slowly he turned and eyed the two others in the room. Fon was being a pleasant bastard, silently daring Colonnello to say something. Renegade was absently fixing her slightly twisted jacket and raised an eyebrow right back at him.

“Right, I don’t want to know.” Colonnello decided as he turned back to go see what was up with Verde. “You two get to explain that to Reborn when he gets back.”

Returning to the living room/makeshift office, Colonnello almost smirked as Verde sent him an annoyed look. It was clear by the slightly curious look on the scientist’s face that his Lightning wanted to ask who called, but Leviathan was hovering. The slight curious look Xanxus sent him didn’t help either, so instead Colonnello went over to the other desk and plopped down to check over his antitank gun.

 

 

Colonnello sat with his feet propped up on the desk, gun slung over the back of his chair, as he watched Tsuna across the room. The boy was fidgeting something fierce since Reborn and the others came walking back in. However instead of answering his questions, Reborn sent the boy back to sitting while they went to wash off the blood lightly coating them.

For the moment Tsuna looked almost innocent, no, he was innocent Colonnello decided. The boy had only really seen action when he was forced to face Byakugan in that future that won’t be. Even then the boy turned around and somehow befriended the insane corrupted Sky.

Colonnello almost wanted to blame Yuni. But this was all on Tsuna. The Arcobaleno Rain wondered if Tsuna knew what he was doing with that alliance.

In all honesty, Colonnello wasn’t sure if Reborn was the best tutor for the poor kid. Colonnello would openly admit he wasn’t a much better choice either. But Reborn was supposed to be preparing Tsuna for the job he was going to get after he graduated.

With Dino it had been rather easy. Dino grew up knowing he’d be a don, he had gone to the Mafia School, he had spent many a day on his father’s knee learning the business. All Reborn actually had to do was toughen the kid up and teach him how to not trip and die.

Colonnello considered it a partial success. Dino could easily survive what the mafia threw at him. There was still a chance the kid would trip and kill himself though.

No, Reborn wasn’t exactly equipped to handle tutoring a don on the essentials of being a don. The administrative side of things wasn’t really Reborn’s forte. The hitman had always been more of a foot soldier before breaking off to go on his own.

As far as choice tutors went, Verde and Fon weren’t much better. Verde only dealt with the mafia because it allowed the scientist to experiment without a board of governors proclaiming his experiments unethical. Fon was not only raised to be a foot soldier, he was from the Triads, the structure was different.

Colonnello doubted either one could teach the kid how to run an Italian based mafia without screwing Tsuna over.

Viper maybe could tutor the kid properly. They had a lot of knowledge based solely on the amount of information they had available to them. The problem with that however was Viper’s network wasn’t built quite like a Famiglia and Viper themselves would charge heavily.

Don’t get him started on how either Lal or he would fair. He knew quite a bit of how the mafia worked administrative wise thanks to Mafia Land, but he didn’t have any confidence in translating that into teaching a don. It was a similar situation for Lal since Iemitsu left most of the paperwork to her, but she didn’t have the true credentials in the area.

Skull, Colonnello paused to think about it, now he might be a good tutor for a don. Skull clearly knew how to run an organization, as ridiculous as that organization was sometimes. The Arcobaleno Cloud also knew the ins and outs of the administrative work just going by how he undermined his former Don without anyone noticing until it was too late.

Not to mention Skull’s ability to not only plan but to give concise instructions so his plans were carried out with minimal effort by his minions.

Yep, Colonnello decided, Skull was the best bet to shape this innocent reluctant teen into a proper don. It didn’t matter that Tsuna professed to want to change the mafia world. Skull was practically the poster child for rebels with or without a cause.

In fact, Colonnello was becoming more and more convinced Skull could easily turn the Mafia World on its head with just a few well-placed words and missions. It would be a sight to see, for sure, and one Colonnello would definitely bring popcorn to while he watched the fallout. Already things were shifting and that was without Skull doing much besides giving hints of his past and letting one of his minions loose to cause havoc.

Speaking of, Colonnello paused to glance around. Renegade remained in the dining/kitchen area of the house after Fon let her go. He could faintly hear the clanking of pots from that area, signaling Renegade had taken over the kitchen.

Colonnello didn’t mind that at all. He knew the girl could cook and if she was cooking, she wasn’t causing trouble. So, it was a win-win situation as far as he was concerned.

The sound of the front door slamming open and then slamming shut made Colonnello turn towards the door towards the hall. The thumping of rushing feet made him tense just slightly. He didn’t have to worry as a silver head Storm burst into the room.

“Boss!” Gokudera greeted as Yamamoto, Ryohei, and the girls that usually followed the Vongola Decimo around came into view.

“Tsu-kun,” Kyoko rushed forwards looking worried, “how’s Haru-chan?”

“The trash is fine.” Xanxus answered before Tsuna could open his mouth. “A little roughed up, but nothing Luss can’t handle. The only thing that’ll take some time to heal is her shitty broken arm. The Trident put a cast on it for now.”

“Where is she?” Bianchi demanded as she looked around the room.

“Upstairs resting.” Levi answered gruffly. “Don’t go bothering her. She’s been through enough without you crowding her.”

“Luss will be down soon to give a full report on her condition.” Xanxus said getting a relieved nod from Kyoko who sat down next to Tsuna and grabbed his hand.

“She’ll be fine.” Kyoko said soothingly to Tsuna who relaxed. “Haru-chan’s tougher than she looks.”

“In the meantime, Scorpion.” Xanxus said turning to Bianchi who raised an eyebrow. “Have you seen anything unusually these past few days while out with our shitty don’s girl?”

“My name is Kyoko.” Kyoko said with a frown.

“And I’m Xanxus, pleased to meet you trash.” Xanxus shot back snidely.

Colonnello nearly choked as he fought down his snort of amusement.

“Unusual?” Bianchi said thoughtfully. “Now that you say it, there was one pervert that spent a while stalking us at the mall earlier. He wasn’t the usual brand of pervert we usually encounter either. Why? Is something going down again?”

“There’s a hit out on the princess.” Levi said motioning to Kyoko with his head.

“A hit?” Kyoko asked looking around with wide eyes.

“Someone wants you dead, trash.” Xanxus said simply making Kyoko’s eyes widen even more while Tsuna grimaced. “Your boy toy didn’t want to tell you. Something about how we didn’t need to fucking worry you. But I figure if we let you know. You’ll be smart about keeping your shitty head down before a bullet finds its way through it.”

Kyoko paled and Colonnello wondered if there was a better way to tell a girl her life was in danger. After a moment of weighing the options Colonnello decided he approved of Xanxus’s method. No need to sugarcoat it, especially if Kyoko really and truly wanted to marry Tsuna one day.

“Is that why Haru-chan was taken?” Kyoko asked after a moment of trying to get her mouth to form proper words.

“We’re not completely sure at this time.” Verde pipped up from behind his laptop. “Reborn and Viper were the ones to scour the mansion she was being held in for information. They should be finished cleaning up soon and will be down to debrief the rest of us on what they found.”

“It was unrelated.” Reborn said entering the others now in cleaner clothes. “The group that took Haru were specifically after any information on Tsuna, his current place of residence, and his mother.”

“We suspect they were one of the groups that was out for revenge on Iemitsu.” Lal said rolling her eyes. “That bastard has more enemies than I have ammunition.”

“But why Haru-chan?” Kyoko asked with tears in her eyes.

“It really could have been either of you.” Squalo said with a casual shrug. “Miura was just the easier target since she was going to be going out of town. It meant you guys wouldn’t bother if she wasn’t around for a while. Unless of course she was supposed to be checking in, which from what that Carcassa bitch said, she wasn’t.”

“Carcassa bitch?” Bianchi said with a frown.

“We found out about Haru’s disappearance because Skull had one of his minions come around.” Reborn said simply. “She went to the Miura residence, likely to speak to Miura-sensei since she didn’t seem to be concerned with Haru at the time. After she found Miura-sensei, she turned around and went hunting for those responsible. We’re just lucky that her and Colonnello are on speaking terms and she needed some back up. Otherwise I doubt we would have known about Haru’s disappearance until she dropped the girl off on our doorstep.”

“Are they even the Carcassa now?” Lussuria asked coming into the room with Trident Shamal on his heels. “The main family collapsed didn’t it?”

“Until they come up with a new name to fall under it’s easier to refer to them as the Carcassa.” Viper answered easily. “Skull’s minions operate in the shadows of most Famiglia, so it’s hard to pinpoint just who is who among them. Colonnello probably has the best idea and even then, he doesn’t have much outside of physical descriptions.”

“So, what’s the final verdict on Miura?” Verde asked Lussuria.

“Bruised ribs, the broken arm, and probably some nightmares.” Lussuria said with a fond smile. “I managed to heal up all her other bruises, but the ribs and arm will have to heal on their own.”

“The swelling around her ribs isn’t too bad either.” Shamal said with a drag of his cigarette. “She’ll be able to take the cast off in a few weeks and it will be like nothing happened.”

“That’s good, right?” Kyoko asked looking around.

“It won’t erase the fact she was abducted and tortured for information about the Vongola.” Reborn pointed out simply while looking directly at Tsuna. “But that will be the only lingering trauma she will be facing.”

Tsuna looked very uncomfortable under the scrutiny. Kyoko was oblivious of the look Reborn was giving the boy next to her. Instead she just smiled and nodded before turning to Lussuria.

“Can I go up and see her? Is she awake?” Kyoko asked with wide pleading eyes.

“I’m sure she won’t mind seeing you and Bianchi-chan.” Lussuria said with a smile. “Yes, she was awake when we came down. She might have fallen asleep since then. Shamal gave her some painkillers.”

“Okay, we won’t disturb her if she’s resting.” Kyoko said even as she followed Lussuria out of the room with Bianchi and I-pin. Lambo staid behind, being held by Yamamoto as the little Bovino quietly sniffled about Haru being hurt.

“Now that we got the threat to Haru out of the way.” Reborn said turning to Xanxus. “Have you made any headway in the Kyoko situation?”

Colonnello sat back and listened to the ongoing meeting of what to do about the hit out on Kyoko. At least now the girl knew she was in danger so she would be more cautious. Tsuna didn’t look happy, but the kid had to know that the deeper he went the less a game the mafia became.

 

 

By the time dinner rolled around, Reborn was silently giving off waves of killing intent. The Sun had been rather subtly trying to kick the kids out of his safehouse, but all attempts so far were unnoticed. Tsuna wasn’t going to be budging until he saw Haru for himself, and the girl was safely tucked away upstairs.

The other girls hadn’t come back down after Lussuria returned to the meeting. He said they wanted to sit with Haru for a bit and that was fine. But now it was getting later, and Renegade would be leaving Japan in a few hours.

Colonnello suspected the reason the Varia were deliberately ignoring all Reborn’s hints was because they wanted to speak with Renegade as well. It wouldn’t surprise him if Xanxus was already plotting to stop Skull from taking the fall for whatever it was that landed the Arcobaleno Cloud in jail. It hadn’t escaped Colonnello how annoyed Xanxus seemed that Viper was subtly siding with the Arcobaleno since the first meeting about what needed to be done about Miura-sensei.

Since Colonnello didn’t really have a say in Vongola affairs, he opted to slip out of the room before he suffocated on the underlying tension. The whole room felt like it was one word away from lighting up like a powder keg. It was something Colonnello would like to avoid getting caught in the middle of.

Instead he wandered into the kitchen.

“ _She wants a Pina Colada in a pint glass…_  
 _She wants to be where the summer won’t stop,_  
 _She wants gin clear water and milk white sand,_  
 _A sunburned nose and drink in her hand_  
 _With a pink umbrella on top!_ ”

Colonnello snort was loud enough to cause Renegade to whirl around. The Carcassa Cloud had been bopping her head to an unheard beat as she shimmied in place while stirring a large pot on the stove. Her singing voice was actually rather pleasant, and the lyrics rolled off her tongue with an easy accent.

“I swear you’re really Irish.” Colonnello said shaking his head. “Is that the only music you listen to?”

“No,” Renegade defended, “I listen to Rammstein and Nightwish too. I’m fucking cultured, sod.”

“Keep telling yourself that.” Colonnello shot back as he went over to the sink to wash his hands. “Need help with anything?”

“The bread sticks should be done in five minutes. So how about start washing and cutting up those veggies for a fucking salad.” Renegade said motioning to a pile of vegetables near a large cutting board and bowl. “Make the pieces bite sized. Haru only has one had to work with at the moment.”

“Sure, what do you got in the pot?” Colonnello asked as he turned to cut up the salad.

“Spaghetti noodles, the sauce is finished and just simmering.” She said with a shrug. “Are they going at it yet?”

“Almost,” Colonnello shook his head, “that bastard is about ready to pick them up and physically toss them out.”

Renegade huffed a laugh at that. “I wish him luck. I was listening in and that timid fucker doesn’t inspire confidence.”

“He has his moments.” Colonnello said with a shrug.

“Moments don’t make a leader.” Renegade shot back. “He best shape up soon, or that fucker is going to be torn apart by the older more experienced bastards he’s going to be schmoozing.”

“You don’t need to tell me that.” Colonnello huffed with a smirk. “Think he’ll get it together?”

“Byakuran took over that future we got memories from.” Renegade said simply before they lapsed into silence.

Colonnello made quick work of the salad. From there it was maneuvering around Renegade as she went to drain the large pot of noodles and he pulled out the breadsticks. Just from the smell, Colonnello could tell the breadsticks were homemade which made his mouth water.

Renegade finished rinsing the noodles in cold water before tossing the large pile into another large bowl. From there it was transferring the sauce and meatballs onto a deep serving platter. A few more sides appeared and were plated before Renegade picked up two of the dishes.

“Whelp, onward to the dining table. I doubt everyone can have a seat, but we can fucking have a nice presentation at least.” Renegade said motioning for him to grab a few of the platters.

“So, we’ll talk after dinner?” Colonnello asked picking up the bowl for the salad and a platter that looked like fresh antipasto.

“Yep, hopefully by then that bastard finds a way to kick the Vongola to the curb.” Renegade said with a grin.

“RENEGADE!”

Colonnello jumped at the high-pitched squeal of delight. He turned just in time to see a brown blur crash against Renegade, causing her to sway just slightly. The Cloud huffed a small laugh even as she held the two platters in her hands up slightly to stabilize the shifting food on them.

“Hey babe, glad to see me?” Renegade asked the girl almost hanging from her neck.

“You came!” Haru almost sobbed. “Luss-chan said someone form the Carcassa came to see dad. I didn’t think it was you.”

“Hey,” Renegade sounded only mildly offended, “I promised to swing by if I could. So here I am. I’m a bitch of my word.”

Colonnello shook his head with a chuckle and quickly sat down the bowl and platter he was holding. He then went over to grab the two platters out of Renegade’s hands since it didn’t seem Haru would be letting go of her anytime soon. The platters were heavy but manageable and Renegade sent him a slightly grateful look as she wrapped her arms around the sniffling girl attached to her.

“Haru?!” Tsuna rounded the corner and almost skidded into the dining table. Colonnello sent the teen a glare but was ignored as the Sky rushed over to the two young women. “Haru are you okay?”

“Tsuna-san?” Haru asked turning her head but not letting go of Renegade.

There was a pause and Colonnello finished setting down the last platter. By then the others were already slipping into the room. Colonnello looked up in anticipation, almost wondering what would happen next.

He, and he doubted everyone else, wasn’t expect Haru to detach herself from Renegade long enough to slap Tsuna across the face. Hard.

“You…You… You inconsiderate idiotic self-absorbed fucking chauvinistic prick!” Haru exploded before latching herself once more to Renegade who smiled almost fondly and kept one arm wrapped around Haru’s shoulders as the younger woman shook in anger. “Haru told you she would call once her and her dad got to their hotel room! She even told you to expect the call sometime in the afternoon the day after she left!”

“Haru, I-” Tsuna began as he cradled his cheek where a red angry handprint was taking shape.

“NO! You don’t fucking get to talk! Did you even listen when I told you?! Did you even care when I didn’t call to check in after a week?! What the fuck?!” Haru waved her casted arm about even as her free hand clung to Renegade like the Cloud was Haru’s lifeline. “I thought I was your friend!” Then she let out a strangled sob. “You… You’re such a… a… a poopy-head.” Haru said between ragged breaths. “…desu.”

Then Haru was sobbing into Renegade’s chest. The Cloud just seemed bemused as she wrapped her arms around the younger woman again. Colonnello didn’t blame her as Tsuna stood off to the side looking stunned.

“Anyway,” Renegade said running the fingers of one of her hands through Haru’s hair, “why don’t we all get something to eat while it’s hot?”

“Good idea,” Reborn said latching onto the suggestion, “did you get the plates down yet?”

“I have them.” Fon said setting down a stack of plates.

“And I got forks!” Lambo said holding up a large bundle of eating utensils in his hands. They were not all forks.

Colonnello scooped up a plate and a fork before the others could question the sudden change. He piled on some food and set the plate off to the side to grab another one. After the two plates were full, he brought them over to Renegade who smirked.

“Come on, babe. You gotta eat something.” She said gently pushing Haru away to grab the plates. “How about we go sit in the living room?”

“Okay Ren,” Haru sniffed following the Cloud out of the dining room.

Colonnello quickly got his own plate and slid past everyone to join the two in the living room. He noted they were sitting on the floor near one of the desks, their backs against the wall. Chuckling he plopped down so he was seated on Haru’s other side, nearly making her flinch.

“Nice hit by the way.” He beamed down at her as he ruffled her hair. “Ten out of ten on form.”

“High praise from you, bastard.” Renegade shot over Haru’s head as the girl seemed to flush slightly.

“I really shouldn’t have hit him, desu.” Haru grumbled.

“He deserved it.” He said in time with Renegade making them share a startle look. Haru on the other hand giggled behind her hand.

“Small bites, bitch. We don’t need you getting fucking sick. The food is supposed to remain on the inside, not the outside.” Renegade said gently as she helped Haru cut a large meatball.

“Ren,” Haru said softly getting a hum of acknowledgement, “thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” Renegade said simply. “But boss said if you want, you got a free ticket to San’s bakery.”

“He opened a bakery?” Haru asked startled.

“I know. I don’t get it either. But that shitty bastard is happy for now, so I guess it’s Gucci.” Renegade said finishing with a shrug.

“That’s right, your Uncle Bones is still running the business when Skull-san isn’t.” Haru said blinking almost in surprise.

“Yep, he’s right special. With the collapse of the main fuckers, he might even escape his nice vacation visiting the Vindice.” Renegade said while Colonnello filed away this new bit of information. “Still, offer stands.”

“Maybe.” Haru said softly. “With dad now…”

“No need to give an answer off the bat.” Renegade said lightly nudging the girl’s shoulder. “I’ll give you his contact number and you’ll have a flight same day.”

“Okay.” Haru said her small smile slightly watery but still present.

Slowly the others gathered in the living room with plates of food as well. Renegade pointedly didn’t look up as Kyoko and I-pin came over to join them in their little circle. But she did let her eyebrow twitch as she gave him a pointed look.

“She’s glaring at me, isn’t she?” Renegade asked and Colonnello glanced around the room unsure what Renegade meant.

Until he noticed the sharp glare Bianchi was sending the side of Renegade’s head. The Poison Scorpion was viciously chewing her food as she continued to send eye daggers over. Clearly Renegade’s presence wasn’t appreciated by the female Storm.

“Yep.” Colonnello offered turning back to his food. “If looks could kill.”

“I bet she wishes.” Renegade said making Colonnello huff a laugh.

“Um, I’m Sasagawa Kyoko.” Kyoko said hesitantly. “I don’t think we ever met.”

“We haven’t, but I’ve heard of you. Sawada’s girl, right?” Renegade said getting a nod. “Call me Renegade, everyone does.”

“Except her mom.” Haru put in with a bit of a smile.

“Say anything else about that and I will murder you.” Renegade hissed making Haru giggle.

“You met her mom?” Colonnello couldn’t help but ask.

“Yea,” Haru grinned, “in the future that isn’t, desu. She used to stop by for tea when I was staying with Ren-chan in Alberta. Rebel-san knows all the best gossip.”

“Rebel?” Viper suddenly asked having somehow moved over to the desk to eat when Colonnello wasn’t looking.

“Uh, yea, that’s what the mafia calls her right?” Haru asked turning to Renegade. “Rebel von Tod-something.”

“Rebel von Todesfall?” Viper almost hissed as they turned sharply to look at Renegade.

“Yes, she unfortunately gave birth to me.” Renegade said with a put-upon sigh.

“Um, what’s so bad about her?” Kyoko asked looking between them.

“Yea? Rebel-san is awesome.” Haru agreed with a raised eyebrow.

“She’s got a reputation.” Colonnello chuckled knowing exactly who they were talking about.

“Reputation?” Kyoko blinked. “Is it bad?”

“Well,” Colonnello looked to Viper for help.

“It depends on who you’re asking.” Viper finished getting a nod yet curious look from Kyoko and Haru. “She’s a notorious Cloud Flame user that likes to sleep around with Skies, mostly dons. Some say she only does it to get pregnant and taunt the Skies because they couldn’t Harmonize with her. Or marry her.”

As one they turned to Renegade who shrunk back looking rather uncomfortable.

“Well,” She began pushing her fringe behind her ear, “it’s not all untrue. But I only have four siblings, the older two are twins besides.”

“You have little siblings?” Haru asked surprised. “I only met Rogue and Tramp.”

“Yea, my little brothers Rascal and Scamp.” Renegade said with a slight smirk. “They drive ma up the wall most days.”

“You have sibling called Tramp?” Kyoko asked caught somewhere between bemused and aghast.

Not that Colonnello blamed the girl. All the other siblings sounded like they could be some form of synonym to Rebel. Tramp just brought up images of that dog from that Disney movie or some of the street girls Colonnello saw growing up.

“Yea, and she reveals in it. I swear she’s going to pick up ma’s habit but be worse about it.” Renegade said with a roll of her eye. “I wouldn’t be surprised if next time we talk, I find out I’m going to be fucking aunt.”

Colonnello almost choked on the bite of food he had just put in his mouth at that. Meanwhile Haru made a show of sympathetically patting Renegade’s shoulder as the Cloud pouted. Kyoko hid her giggles behind her hand and shook her head.

“You must have a very interesting family.” Kyoko said with a grin.

“You don’t know the half of it.” Renegade said with a defeated sigh. “But they’re family so I put up with them, the fuckers.”

“So how much older Tramp-san?” Kyoko asked curiously. “She isn’t already sleeping around, is she?”

“She is, and she’s got three shitty years on me.” Renegade snorted. “She started way back when she was sixteen, and luckily remembered her fucking birth control. But she’s almost out of college already and Boss stressed if she wants kids, she will have to support them on her own. Ma backs him.”

“So, she’s twenty-one then.” Colonnello said getting a nod. “God you make me feel old.”

“Does that mean she’ll be Tramp von Todesfall?” Haru asked looking at Renegade curiously. “I know you don’t use the last part because you don’t like being associated with your mom all that much. Now I know what her reputation is, I get it, desu.”

“More than likely, or she’ll choose another alias. You’d be surprised how many names we can wrack up in a few years.” Renegade said with a smirk.

“But she will be prowling and looking to have a child?” Viper asked and Renegade hesitated before nodding with a sigh.

“She’s got some fierce maternal instincts. If ma would have let her, she would have gotten pregnant almost as soon as she got her period.” Renegade said shaking her head. “She used to spend her time taking care of the kids some of the Carcassa had. Babysitting or straight up taking them in and going to school like a single mother if need be. She worked for Boss and part time to provide for her adopted beans all the while being top of her class. Scary as shit if you ask me.”

“Adopted beans?” Kyoko asked amused.

“That’s what she called them. I don’t fucking get it either.” Renegade said shaking her head. “I could barely stand our baby brothers and that was ma’s job to take care of them. Or T’s job if ma was busy.”

“Some girls are just born to be mothers.” Haru said patting Renegade on the shoulder again. “And some aren’t.”

“I’ll be in the some aren’t category, thank you.” Renegade said getting laughs all around. “So, what about you, Kyoko-san? I vaguely remember hearing you want to be a professional ballerina. You any fucking good?”

Colonnello sat back and listened to Kyoko gush about her dance classes. The conversation only punctuated with a few questions and prompts to Haru to eat just a bit more. It was rather peaceful and Colonnello didn’t mind relaxing.

Now all they had to do was find a way to kick the kids out so they could talk to Renegade. With any luck they could use the excuse of how late it was to get the kids to move. In the meantime, he turned over the new information he learned about Renegade’s family in his mind, picking it apart the best he could.

He wondered if Renegade really was Skull’s granddaughter, which of his Cloud’s daughters was Rebel.


	10. Briefing

After dinner was finished, Colonnello dragged Renegade into the kitchen to help clean up. The uneaten food was put away for later and the dishes began piling into the sink. Haru even wandered in to try to help.

Renegade promptly put a plastic bag on the girl’s cast and handed her a dishtowel to dry.

“Just don’t drop any dishes. I ain’t owing that bastard anything if I can fucking help it.” Renegade grumbled even as she attacked a large pot with the rough side of her sponge.

“Need some help?” Fon asked Haru appearing after a few minutes.

“I got it, desu.” Haru muttered as she slowly dried a platter that was being held precariously on her cast. She yelped as the wet dish slipped out of her hold.

Before Colonnello could turn and grab it, Fon already had it in his hand.

“You’re doing a commendable job, Haru-chan, but how about I dry, and you put away? Reborn set up his kitchen much like Nana’s. I’m sure out of the four of us, you’ll have a better understanding of where everything goes.” Fon offered with a smile.

“Okay, desu.” Haru said perking up from her pout, though her cheeks were still a little pink from embarrassment.

There was peace for all of fifteen minutes, as Renegade focused on scrubbing. That peace was broken when Colonnello felt Renegade’s arm dart around him. Seconds later there was a splash as the dish Renegade was holding fell back into the water and Haru yelped as the dish Fon had been drying landed awkwardly in her arms.

“Damnit!” Renegade hissed even as she put her foot on the edge of the sink and backflipped. “Goddamn fucker, give me back my shitty keys already!”

Colonnello turned with a sigh seeing Fon and Renegade once again almost wrestling. He’d call it almost wrestling since Fon was indeed trying to pin the rambunctious woman down to get her under some control. Only Renegade wasn’t exactly with the program as she tried to knee Fon below the belt.

“Don’t break another chair, kora!” He called to them even as he turned around to take over scrubbing the dishes. “Think you can dry without Fon’s help?”

“I-I can.” Haru said with wide eyes at the pair behind them. Then turned with a bit of a fist pump. “Yea! Haru’s got this, desu!”

Colonnello smiled fondly at the girl. “So, how did you two meet anyway? Ren’s not the easiest person to keep in one spot for long. She rarely sits through pleasantries without causing some sort of ruckus.”

“She was duct taped to a chair.” Haru said with a slight smile. “She was cursing everyone and spitting out death threats. It was really intimidating, especially after Bones-san said she would be the one teaching me self-defense.”

“How’d you convince them to help you?” Colonnello asked with a raised eyebrow. “I know Skull and his minions. They don’t work for free.”

“Bones-san needed someone who knew computers. Haru heard about it while digging up info on where Skull-san might be to ask for his help. Since Bones-san was standing in for Skull-san, she figured he would at least pass on word to Skull-san about her request for assistance if she did a good job on what he wanted.” Haru said sheepishly. “Haru wasn’t expecting Bones-san to drag her to meet Ren-chan after the job was done.”

“I take it your first meeting didn’t go well.” Colonnello said with a chuckle.

“Ren-chan made Haru cry a lot, desu.” Haru admitted with a slight slump though she was still smiling fondly. “But she did teach Haru-chan what she needed to know to survive.”

“So, you worked for the Carcassa then?” Colonnello prodded as the struggling behind them heated up just a tad.

“For a while,” Haru said with a grin, “until Byakuran-san started becoming a problem. Haru got transferred to an outreach program to keep her safe, not that Haru minded that one. She was still working, and she didn’t need to stay out of contact with her friends. But when Skull-san went down, Haru had orders to return to the Vongola and help the best she could.”

“And Tsuna just let you back, just like that?” Colonnello asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Haru mentioned a white-haired freak came after her and talked a lot about Tsuna-san. She was scared, the authorities weren’t helping, and she had nowhere else to go. Just like Ren-chan taught Haru.” Haru said with a sly smirk. “He ate it up and no questions were asked. Haru began working with Hibari-san shortly afterwards.”

Colonnello blinked at the smirking girl for a second before shivering. “Right, you’re definitely Carcassa.”

Haru beamed at him before turning back to the sink to rinse and dry a few more dishes. Colonnello went back to washing as he contemplated this new development. In the background Renegade was cursing while the sounds of the struggle hitting the floor hard filled the air.

The moment was broken only for a moment as Fon suddenly yelped before there was the sound of a loud crunch. Colonnello refused to look back to see what just happened. Instead he focused on washing the last few dishes and wiping down the counter.

Once he couldn’t see any more to clean up, he reluctantly turned to see what was going on behind him. Fon had Renegade pinned again, this time with a slightly vicious smirk as blood dripped down from his now slightly crooked nose. Renegade was pinned on her back snarling up at Fon as blood dripped onto her shirt, looking like some feral wild animal as she squirmed to get out from under the Storm on top of her.

There was soft electronic clicking sound next to him. He turned and saw Haru standing there holding up a phone he wasn’t aware she had. Haru just blinked up at him a bit too innocently as she gave him a sweet smile.

Colonnello turned back to the scene with Fon and Renegade. He really couldn’t hold back his snort of amusement if he wanted. Unfortunately, that snort seemed to open a floodgate and he was soon almost bent over laughing as he held onto the edge of the counter to stay upright.

Colonnello wasn’t sure why he was laughing specifically. But something about this situation was just hilarious, maybe Fon’s broken nose or how Haru just casually took a picture. He wondered if he could get her to send him a copy.

“Haru-chan!” Kyoko came into the room only to pause. Colonnello looked up noticing the slightly horrified look on the girl’s face as she looked at Fon and Renegade. It sent him into another fit of laughter.

“What’s going on in here now?” Reborn asked stepping in before snorting. He smirked as he walked over to look down at Fon. “How did she break your nose? Are you that out of practice?”

“Hardly.” Fon almost beamed as he sat back, still pinning Renegade down, to face Reborn. “She just caught me slightly off guard when she tried to rip my throat out with her teeth. I’m thinking of keeping her.”

Reborn’s own smirk was rather dark as he casually reached over and reset Fon’s nose like this was an everyday occurrence. Colonnello had recovered enough that he was just snickering even as he choked back a laugh at the looking Kyoko’s face as Fon didn’t even flinch to having his nose snapped back into place. A few seconds later Sun Flames flared as Reborn absently finished healing the Marital Artist with a shake of his head.

“Tried to rip out your throat with her teeth?” Kyoko asked faintly looking down at Renegade in surprise. Renegade was still silently snarling up at Fon and had managed to wriggle one of her arms free, only she was using her elbow to try and push herself out from under him rather than attack for now.

Fon hummed before smiling and undoing the top of his cheongsam. He pulled back the red fabric enough to show the area of his trapezius muscle where it connected his neck to his shoulder. There, already turning a vicious sickly yellowy purple, was the distinct two half oval marks of a set of upper and lower teeth coloring his skin.

A little lower or further along Fon’s shoulder, and Colonnello knew Renegade would have snapped the Martial Artist’s collarbone. It wouldn’t be the first time she did something like that either. Colonnello had several old incident reports from her training that had similar injuries.

Reborn clicked tongue against his teeth and began healing that one. Luckily Renegade’s teeth didn’t break through the silk of Fon’s clothes, or there would likely be a scar. Not to mention a lot more blood since Colonnello knew she had been aiming for at least the carotid artery.

“Really, Ren-chan.” Haru lightly scolded the still pinned Cloud with a fond smile. “Didn’t Mr. Mister say not to bite people?”

“Mr. Mister can go suck a rotten egg.” Renegade snapped back as she squirmed. “Sides, this fucker deserved it. He won’t give me back my shitty keys.”

“One day your biting comments will get you in trouble.” Haru said in mock seriousness. The slightly condescending look she wore wasn’t quite effective as a smile was threatening to ruin it.

Renegade paused in her squirming to look up at Haru with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. “You. Did. Not!”

Haru ducked behind Colonnello and grasped onto his jacket. She pressed herself against his back as if to hide, but he could almost feel her smile as she pressed her face into him. She was also shaking with obvious mirth as Renegade began squirming a bit more earnestly.

“That’s it! When I get free, you are next bitch!” Renegade snarled in her renewed efforts to get unpinned. It just made Haru giggle into Colonnello’s jacket.

“No harming the injured.” Reborn stated calmly making her pause long enough to flip him off with her freed hand. He smirked as the action caused her to fall on her back with an obvious thump. Then he turned to Kyoko who was slowly coming to terms with the last few moments. “Kyoko-chan, weren’t you going to say goodnight to Haru-chan?”

“Oh! Yes!” Kyoko said prancing around Fon and Renegade, giving them a good wide berth, to come over to Colonnello and Haru. “I have to get going. I promised Nana to bring Lambo-kun and I-pin-chan home at a reasonable time. It’s almost their bath time as it is. I’m glad your safe, Haru-chan.”

Kyoko babbled a few more well wishes as she and Haru hugged. Colonnello was bemused that he was caught between them since Haru was still holding the back of his jacket. Yet both girls acted like he wasn’t there at all.

“Shouldn’t Bianchi-chan take them with you?” Haru asked even as she let Kyoko go.

“She’s trying to convince Reborn-san to let her to stay here. He’s not happy.” Kyoko said like the hitman wasn’t present in the room.

“I should think so.” Haru agreed with a sniff. “Reborn-san doesn’t have much space here. They gave me the room Verde-san is supposed to have since he’s busy with something anyway and will likely sleep on the couch. Where would she sleep?”

“With my love of course!” Bianchi said coming in with the youngest Vongola kids.

I-pin instantly went over to Fon, asking why his face was bloody. Fon smiled warmly and recounted what happened in Chinese. I-pin nodded solemnly and bowed to Renegade who snorted.

Colonnello almost smirked as Renegade used her free hand to pat the girl on the head and speak in the same Chinese dialect Fon and I-pin were using.

“Was nothing, kid. You just need to grow a bit more before you can break your Master’s nose. You’d be surprised how much having a longer reach helps in fighting.”

I-pin and Fon seemed stunned for a moment before the little girl was chattering away at Renegade. The Cloud rolled her eyes and went back to struggling to free herself. Colonnello shook his head and turned back to the growing argument between Reborn and Bianchi.

“Besides,” Haru put in still clutching Colonnello’s jacket, “Fon-san and Reborn-san are bunking together. Lal-san said.”

“What?!” Bianchi almost shrieked looking between Fon and Reborn.

“There’s only four rooms.” Haru explained slowly. “Colonnello-san and Lal-san have one room. Viper-san has their own room. Verde-san and Fon-san were sharing a room, but since I’m taking that room, Fon-san is now going to bunk with Reborn-san.”

“Why can’t you bunk with Viper?” Bianchi hissed angrily at Haru who shrunk into Colonnello. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders the best he could at the angle she was at behind him and ignored the soft growl from Renegade on her side of the room.

Haru looked at Bianchi slightly horrified. “Do I look like I have that kind of money?”

Colonnello, Fon, and Reborn all snorted at that.

“It’s already final.” Reborn said simply. “Fon is staying in my room with me. Haru-chan is getting the guest room he was sharing with Verde. Viper prefers their privacy anyway.”

“But my love,” Bianchi began only to be cut off by Renegade’s snort.

“Just cause you love him, doesn’t mean shit.” Renegade said stretching her other hand since she now had her other arm free. “I know you prefer your partners a bit more on the younger side. But he’s a fucking grown man. He can make his own damn decisions if he wants to.”

“You stay out of this you bitch.” Bianchi hissed at Renegade.

“Why?” Renegade rolled her eyes. “I’m a little stuck and listening to your childish whining is mind grating. I’d rather watch fucking paint dry.”

Colonnello tensed. He had hoped those two wouldn’t cross paths. Now it seemed the inevitable confrontation was upon them.

“And what about you? Why are you here?” Bianchi snarled down at Renegade who rolled her eyes. Renegade lightly pushed I-pin towards Colonnello and the other two girls.

“Currently I’m trying to get my car keys back so I can leave this hell hole. I gotta plane to catch in a few hours and far better places to be. If I didn’t have business in town, I’d have stayed the fuck away knowing your skanky ass was stinking up the town.” Renegade shot back as she lightly pushed at Fon’s chest, trying to get him off her while her focus remained on Bianchi.

Fon seemed reluctant to let Renegade up, likely knowing a confrontation was imminent if he did. But Reborn put a hand on the Storm’s shoulder and almost hauled him off the captured Cloud. The other two Arcobaleno were soon over near Colonnello as Renegade fluidly flipped onto her feet and rose to her full height.

Colonnello sometimes forgot how tall Renegade was compared to other women. Now it was clear since the Cloud towered over Bianchi by three almost four inches. It was a height most women achieved with a good size heel, and Renegade rarely wore those.

“So, we’re letting this happen?” Fon asked looking at the two young woman.

“What’s going on?” Kyoko asked looking at them.

“They’ve got history.” Colonnello answered even as Reborn watch closely. “Bianchi once took a job to try and take out Ren. It didn’t end well for Bianchi.”

“Ha!” Renegade’s voice cut in. “That coming from a wench that poisoned her brother so much he still can’t stand to look you in the face. Who do you think cooked dinner? I was in here the whole time, bitch.”

“Are they arguing about cooking?” Kyoko asked looking somewhere between bemused and exasperated.

“Bianchi-chan brought it up.” Haru said quietly eyes watching the confrontation intently. “She said Ren-chan would poison Reborn-san.”

Colonnello tuned most of it out. He really didn’t want to try and parse through the intricacies of a female verbal smack down. It always ended up with him having a headache and wondering what the hell just happened.

There was a reason he loved Lal’s straightforwardness after all.

Instead he busied himself by grabbing the dishcloth he had been using for the dishes and rinsing it. After wringing the cloth out, he idly handed it to Fon. His Storm sent him a smirk before setting about cleaning the blood off his face.

The sound of a crash drew Colonnello’s attention back to the two fighting women in the room. Renegade stood off to the side eyeing a smoking melting hole in the wall with bored distaste. Bianchi on the other hand was holding up what looked like a radioactive decaying cupcake.

“Seriously?” Renegade asked completely unimpressed. “What are you? Two? What the fuck are you doing throwing food like that?”

Bianchi answered by throwing the rotten cupcake at Renegade’s head. The Cloud just smoothly side stepped the unusual projectile, hands resting casually in the pockets of her jacket. Colonnello was rather proud that Renegade was exercising her rarely used restraint.

“I know you’re a poison cook and all. But fuck, why do you have to throw food? It’s bad enough you already waste the fucking stuff by poisoning it. Now you must fucking toss it around, like a tantrum throwing toddler. The fuck?”

Or Renegade was stunned at the unusual weapon being used against her.

“Would you stand still, bitch?” Bianchi hissed throwing another stomach-churning cupcake.

Renegade side stepped that one just as easily as the other two.

“Maybe you should learn how to throw better.” Renegade offered as she eyed the wall that was slowly dissolving thanks to the three Storm Flame infused cupcakes. She shrugged still not looking at Bianchi, in fact she was almost completely turned so she had her back to the poison cook. “I mean, your throws are a bit slow and drift a bit to the left. Maybe you should practice some baseball pitching, it would certainly help your form.”

Bianchi tossed another cupcake and Renegade sidestepped again.

“And stop aiming for my head.” Renegade offered turning to the other woman still looking unimpressed. “It’s a smaller target and you don’t have the skill to hit it. Try for center mass, which I like to point out would probably be the worse of the two targets anyway. If your Flames don’t succeed in disintegrating my heart with the first hit, my lungs, stomach, hell even my intestines would all make up for the miss.”

“You are seriously not lecturing me about this now!” Bianchi snarled throwing up her hands.

“Yea,” Renegade said with a grin, “I kind of am.”

Bianchi shrieked in rage as she suddenly held up a cake she got form somewhere. Colonnello figured the girl was creating constructions of food with her Flames. It was pretty impressive, though he wasn’t sure if it was completely practical.

Renegade ducked under the cake easily. In that second Colonnello saw the Cloud pull something out from the long sleeve of her jacket. A slight glint of something gunmetal and Colonnello could only nudge Fon.

A second later Fon just managed to catch the dark bladed combat knife Renegade had launched at Bianchi. The tip of the very sharp blade stopped only a handful of centimeters from the pink haired woman’s left eye. The room stood still for a second, before Bianchi stumbled back with a look of stunned fear on her face.

Renegade sighed, “Why the fuck are you my current bane of existence?”

“I’m just looking out for you.” Fon said with a smile as he lowered the knife. A knife that disappeared in a slight crackle of harmless Cloud Flames.

Renegade pouted. “I wasn’t gonna let it hit her.”

Fon hummed as he tucked his hands into the sleeves of his cheongsam. “Even so, it’s getting late and now Bianchi-chan should help Tsuna-san and Kyoko-chan bring the kids home. With the threat looming over the Vongola it would be better to be safe than sorry.”

“Of course!” Kyoko said latching onto that and almost flouncing over to the still stunned Bianchi who was rather white. “Come on, Bianchi-chan. We need to get the boys. Nana-san will be so worried.”

In a slight show of surprising strength, Kyoko hauled Bianchi to her feet and began pushing her out the door. Reborn smirked to help gather up the kids, seeing the opportunity to kick them out. Colonnello looked up at the ceiling for a second as if it would give him strength to deal with the now pouting Renegade.

A gentle hand landed on his elbow and he looked down to see a smiling Haru. She gave him a wink before bounding over to Renegade. The Cloud was looking like she might attack Fon again, only to be stopped by having Haru launch herself into Renegade’s arms.

“That was so COOL!” Haru gushed into Renegade. “What else can you duplicate? Can you duplicate bullets?”

Renegade blinked she was overwhelmed by a floodgate of questions. Her previous pouting now gone, and her focus was solely on Haru. With Renegade occupied for now, Colonnello turned to Fon.

His Storm was hiding a silent laugh as he made a show of examining the now damaged wall. Colonnello sighed as he went over to help see the damage. In the background Renegade was half answering and half accusing Haru she already knew the answers to the flood of questions.

“Fucking hell, bitch, why would I even want to propagate an orange?!”

“So,” Colonnello began lowly so only Fon could hear, “what are the odds the Varia will also be kicked out?”

“Pretty high.” Fon said with a smile. “Viper is planning on just teleporting them to their hotel room with a note to come back in the morning. They haven’t told anyone that Renegade will likely be gone by then.”

They lapsed in silence for a second.

“Did I imagine that bastard actually being relieved to be kicking the scorpion out?” Colonnello asked hoping it was a mild hallucination when he saw Reborn’s shoulders dip just a fraction as Haru explained there was no where for Bianchi to stay.

“I think he’s gotten over the novelty of her.” Fon said simply. “Even you know how becoming a toddler affected him.”

Colonnello snorted. “So, about that invitation we got for his wedding to her…”

Fon’s smile only pretended to be pleasant.

 

 

It took roughly forty-five minutes to clear the house of unwanted guests. Tsuna and his guardians had to once again check on Haru, but the girl refused to detach herself from a bemused Renegade. The Varia were easier to kick out since Viper was annoyed enough to teleport them away.

But soon Colonnello found himself in the living room with the others. Shamal had also left some time ago after handing Haru a bottle of pills and telling her to only take one if she was in pain. Now the girl was curled up against Renegade’s side as the Cloud sprawled on one of the couches in the living room.

“So,” Renegade said eyeing the tea in her cup, “Boss said to tell you about what the Vongola are likely to do in a few months.”

“You spoke to him?” Viper asked as even Reborn turned to eye the woman with a frown.

“Huh? Yea, he called Cole.” Renegade said pointing to Colonnello who was enjoying some hot chocolate. “Just a check in to let you all know he was alive.”

“It was when you were all cleaning up.” Verde said adjusting his glasses. “So, what do you know about the setup?”

Renegade shrugged, “It came out of nowhere when it happened. I mean, our information network is good, but we were stuck in a similar situation as we are now. Spread out, unable to reach each other in some cases, and flat out stuck in radio silence in others. The shitty old don we had in the Carcassa was trying to break us up, was getting paranoid that Boss was up to something.”

“Was he?” Reborn asked with a raised eyebrow.

“The destruction of the main family has been years in the making.” Renegade said with a shrug. “I got in on it almost as soon as I was officially part of the Famiglia. Boss had already had a bunch of stuff set up by then. Unfortunately, a job in Versailles went down bad, tipped the don off that someone was mucking up his business.”

“That isn’t the case now.” Viper said getting a nod from Renegade.

“Almost a week after the info dump from that future, Boss had us working double time shoring up everything. We didn’t even need to do that job in Versailles, just tweak a few things here and there. He also had a hundred new contingencies we had to put in motion, which was a bitch.”

“Did one of these contingencies include stopping this setup?” Lal asked with a frown. “Or is he planning on letting it happen?”

“Yes and no.” Renegade said with a sigh as Haru snuggled against her. “I mean, he’s doing what he can to prevent it, sure. But we didn’t have much time to dig around before Byakuran and everything else went down. We got some of the stuff we need to prevent it, but we’re not sure the whole of it.”

“So, what can you tell us about it? Who was the one to authorize it? When did it take place? Which jail did he go to? Did the Vindice get involved?” Lal pressed making Renegade roll her eyes with a snort.

“Well let’s see. The Vongola Nono authorized it, I know that much, but he got the backing of both Iemitsu and Tsuna. Iemitsu since we’re pretty sure he’s the one trying to cover his ass. Tsuna because he was reeling from Haru’s kidnapping and the aftermath, blamed Reborn for not telling him something was up or something like that.”

“So, since you saved me, he won’t get involved?” Haru asked poking Renegade in the ribs.

“Who knows, but he’s probably not going to be siding with his dad on this one.” Renegade said gently elbowing Haru in the shoulder for the poking.

“Of course, he won’t.” Reborn said simply getting a small smile from Haru who settled against Renegade again.

“Anyway, they took Boss down in France, but deported him to Italy. It was a farce of a trial, since the Vongola paid the authorities off. Our shit don didn’t want to anger the Vongola by trying to counter, so Boss was ship out to a jail in the country. Someone slapped an illusion on him to convince everyone he wasn’t fun sized and that was that. He was locked up for almost four years, would have been longer if the Vongola didn’t need him cause of Byakuran targeting the rest of the Arcobaleno.”

“So, what were the charges?” Viper asked with a frown.

“Murder, mostly.” Renegade said with a shrug. “I don’t got the details on that one. But Mr. Mister said there was a series of rather public massacres in the Piedmont region. Someone planted evidence that Boss did it, though Boss was up in the Baltics at the time.”

“Mr. Mister knows?” Haru blinked in surprise. “I mean, sure, he’s Mr. Mister. But how come he’d know about that?”

“Who is Mr. Mister?” Fon asked with a bemused smirk. “This is the second time you two have mentioned him.”

“Mr. Mister is the head of a separate organization Boss created like decades ago.” Renegade said with a shrug. “He basically is the creepy mysterious intelligence guy that double checks our main intelligence branch.”

“He doesn’t really have minions working for him.” Haru said with a grin. “If he needs someone to run errands, he pulls them from the main group. Ren-chan is one of his favorites because he say’s she livens up the office like a hand grenade when she’s forced to work for him.”

“Is there a way for you to get in contact with him?” Viper asked suddenly more interested. “Perhaps he can tell us more.”

“Nope,” Renegade said with a shrug. “He’s off-grid, has been for the past seven months. Boss asked him to do some job and he’s been MIA ever since. We don’t expect him back for another half a year.”

“So, what type of timeframe are we looking at?” Colonnello asked deciding to file away this new information for later.

“The killings aren’t going to start for another five to six weeks. Boss got taken down about four or five months after that. The only other thing I know, is the fact that the killings weren’t Varia. Not only were they too risky for their taste, it wasn’t their style.” Renegade said turning to drink her tea.

“That’s not a lot to work on.” Verde said typing away on his laptop. “But having the region and a loose timeline will help.”

“But why would Nono authorize it?” Haru asked blinking a bit.

“Who knows? I honestly always believed it was a fucking coverup for some stupid thing the Vongola did.” Renegade said dismissively. “Not sure what though. I was busy elsewhere at the time.”

“Odessa, right?” Haru asked looking up at her and getting a nod. “Are you going to be dealing with that again?”

“Nah, Aunt Gypsy decided to volunteer this time. She’s going through things with her marriage and figured it would be a good stress reliever.” Renegade snorted. “Hence the reason why I’m the one stuck in Berlin.”

“Oh,” Haru blinked, “so where’s Walker and Journey then?”

“They’ve gone to stay with Uncle Havoc for now. Last I heard the two of them teamed up with Chaos and Anarchy to raise their school to the ground. According to Marge, Uncle was unimpressed.” Renegade said with a grin making Haru giggle.

“He gave them ice cream, didn’t he?” Haru asked through her giggles.

“Of course, no one knows who blew up the science lab after all.” Renegade said a little too proudly of her cousins.

“You have another uncle?” Viper asked leaning in.

“Uh,” Renegade blinked, “yea. He’s my ma’s baby brother. He and my Aunt Gypsy are barely a year apart, so they’ve always been close. If I remember right, it’s like a year and two months.”

Renegade paused as she gave Haru her cup and began counting on her fingers.

“Let’s see, Aunt Gypsy was born in early September of seventy-eight and Uncle Havoc was born in late November of seventy-nine. So, yea! A year and two months. According to ma, he wasn’t planned for and decided to come at the worse time possible for the family. But he’s the best as far as my uncles and aunts go.”

“And he’s married?” Viper asked sounding bemused.

Renegade groaned and rolled her eyes. “Yea, to Marge. She’s the prissy high-maintenance one in the family. The only reason she married Uncle was because he’s a pretty successful lawyer. Its always luncheons and brunches and dinner parties with that woman. Ma even makes me wear a dress when we go to have dinner with them, cause she only ever wants to eat at those fancy places that serve you hors d’oeuvres for an entrée. It’s all caviar and champagne and flashing designer clothes with her. I still remember how much she complained about her figure after Anarchy was born. Won’t let Uncle have any more kids cause she has to fit into her size zero jeans and having one boy and one girl is well enough for a family.”

“I don’t remember ever meeting her.” Haru frowned.

“She’s not really part of the business. She likes to pretend she’s a housewife, even though she insists on having people to do all the work for her. Her hobby is fashion designing and she goes on and on about one day having her masterpieces showcased. We’re still not sure what Uncle sees in her.” Renegade said rolling her eyes.

“What about your aunt and uncle?” Viper asked sounding bemused.

“Uncle Bones is married to Aunt Crimson. It’s not her real name, but we all call her that. She and Uncle Bones were best friends since they were little. They eloped against her families wishes so she’s ours now. Aunt Gypsy is married to Uncle Corny, and they’ve been going through stuff recently. Their relationship has always been rocky since Boss put a shotgun to Uncle Corny’s head and told him that he best think about what he ought to do after Aunt Gypsy found out she was pregnant with Walker.”

“Corny?” Lal asked through a strangled laugh.

“His name is Cornelius, he’s like five years older than Aunt Gypsy. They were sort of dating in college when he knocked Aunt Gypsy up.” Renegade said with a snort. “He goes through these phases of forgetting Boss exists and needs to be reminded from time to time just how things work. Otherwise, he’s okay, if you can stomach bad dad jokes and awful puns. He works as an accountant.”

Colonnello found himself fighting down a chuckle at that one.

“Is your mother married?” Viper prompted curiously. “It’s hard to tell given her reputation.”

“Uh, yea. She’s on husband number two, my stepfather Gunner. He was family long before he married ma and pretty cool. Sides, he makes ma happy, so I don’t give him much shit for her sake.” Renegade said with a smirk. “He’s actually the father of Scamp.”

“What was her first husband like?” Viper asked almost gently.

“Dad?” Renegade asked blinking at them before smirking. “He was the best.” Then she paused and seemed to get said, “Pity the Varia took him out, really.”

“The Varia did what?” Viper asked coolly.

“Took him out.” Renegade rolled her eyes. “Wrong place, wrong time. Dad was a pretty good shot and a decent fighter. But well, Tyr was one hell of a bastard.”

Viper scuffed at that. “I can agree with that. So, your dad was mafia?”

“Yea?” Renegade asked tilting her head thoughtfully. “Well, no, well yea, well he was a grey area. He worked for boss. It was how he met ma. But he worked for Boss’s smuggling division, mostly firearms, stuff the Carcassa weren’t really into at the time. He was also in charge of running pharmaceutical smuggling for a long while. Boss threw a fit when his body turned up, but he didn’t do anything after tracing back who was responsible. Didn’t want to get into that sort of trouble. Ma was inconsolable for the first two years afterwards, didn’t get back to her normal self for a while.”

“How old where you?” Colonnello found himself asking with a frown.

“Nine.” She said with a shrug. “It was harder on Rascal. He’s not dad’s by blood, but that didn’t matter. Raz was only six at the time.”

“What about the twins? Are they your full-blooded siblings?” Colonnello asked now slightly curious.

“Nah, but they’re the reason ma and dad got married. Ma didn’t like the guy that fathered the twins and knew Boss would be on a war path. So, ma asked dad who owed her one and he was okay with it. I’m their only child and they had an open relationship. Actually, Raz’s dad was dad’s boyfriend who pretty much lived with us, up until he got taken out on a job running arms. I grew up knowing him as pops.”

“Your mom is wonderfully unconventional.” Haru said simply getting a snort from Renegade. “Anyway, as enlightening as all of this is. I’m exhausted and in pain. So, I’m going to take one of those painkillers and go to bed now.”

Colonnello watched bemused as that declaration somehow involved Haru dragging Renegade off to sleep as well. The younger woman saying that Renegade probably had less sleep than her and was in no way fit to drive. None of them stopped Haru as she steamed rolled the Cloud in staying the night while dragging the reluctant woman up the stairs.

“She’ll still be gone before the Varia show up.” Reborn said simply getting an agreeing nod from a few. “So, what do you make of all that?”

“We’re going to need eyes in Piedmont.” Viper said with a frown. “I can have a few of my contacts there keeping an ear out.”

“I’ll also have a few of my minions scour through the CEDEF files.” Lal said with a frown. “Renegade is right, this seems like some sort of coverup for something. And the fact that Iemitsu is involved isn’t exactly comforting.”

Colonnello paused as he began lightly gnawing on his lip. There was something that had been nagging him since Renegade muttered it. The sudden hand on his shoulder made him jump slightly.

“Out with it already.” Verde commanded almost shaking Colonnello.

“We were cursed in seventy-nine.” Colonnello said simply.

“Yes, late July.” Verde rolled his eyes. “I’m sure we all remember that.”

“But Ren said Havoc was born in late November of that year.” Colonnello pointed out making the others pause.

“We’re pretty sure Nikita didn’t die in the ranch fire.” Verde said adjusting his glasses. “The Flame damaged you spotted is consistent with something either being protected by Flames or some sort of Flame construct being put under stress.”

“The fire was in February.” Viper said with a frown. “Nine months before Havoc would have been born.”

“He would have been cursed when Havoc was born.” Colonnello pointed out thinking on that. They had barely been over a foot tall as it was. He couldn’t imagine what it would have been like to be almost as big as his newborn son.

“We really need to find out why that fire was started.” Lal said solemnly leaning into Colonnello. “All of this seems to revolve around that one thing.”

“He must have known someone was after him.” Fon said simply. “It would explain why Nikita’s death was faked. But faking one’s death isn’t the type of response civilians have to paranoia of being stalked.”

“It isn’t.” Reborn said with a frown eyes shadowed by his fedora.

“Just who was Skull trying to hide from?” Colonnello asked with a frown. “He was clearly hiding, even if it was in plain sight.”

“We’ll just have to ask him when he reappears.” Reborn said smoothly looking up. “When did he say to expect him?”

“Ten to twenty days.” Colonnello automatically reported getting a nod in return.

“So, we’ll just have to be ready then. But for now, let’s focus on making sure Haru-chan is situated and Kyoko-chan is out of danger.”

No one argued and soon broke off to either get some sleep or focus on their new task.

 

 

Colonnello found himself waking to the grey time of the morning again. Lal was sprawled on his chest, drooling away. The two of them having decided to at least get some sleep while they could.

For a moment he looked down at his partner in all things. It was strange to think about that as he looked back on their relationship. The comradery they had even back in COMSUBIN was something he’d never give up for the world.

Though back in COMSUBIN he would have never thought of having a relationship with Lal. Back then it was strictly business, though he had to admit even back then he wouldn’t have minded. There was just something about having a strong beautiful superior officer that didn’t take any shit that turned him on.

After they were dragged into the whole mafia thing though, it caused their relationship to change. They couldn’t go back to their superiors and they definitely couldn’t trust the others just yet. They were a two-man unit in a FUBAR situation that didn’t look like it had been getting any better.

Somewhere along the way, the army training relaxed and the mafia conditioning seeped in. They both acknowledged their time in the military was up and they had to survive in this new battleground. It still took a few years before Colonnello got up the courage to try and woo her.

She hadn’t taken him seriously, of course. They both knew the Pacifiers would be the end of them. Yet it was still nice, a reminder that they were still in this together.

Looking down at her now, Colonnello wouldn’t honestly say she was the only woman he would probably ever love. He knew she would be there to have his back no matter what the situation. He also knew she would keep him in line when he needed it.

He was content. It was strange to admit given the last few decades of his life. He had never thought he’d be happy again after being cursed.

The only problem was the nagging mystery around Skull. Colonnello still felt like there was so much he had to find out about the Cloud. It almost terrified him as he thought about it.

He hadn’t ever wanted to know someone quite like he wanted to know Skull. Most people were easy to read no matter how much they tried to be mysterious. He could almost pick out a person’s life story just by how they stood, what they wore, how they spoke.

Skull was none of that. There was a surface image, a supposed personality and history. Then there was stuff like finding out he had once been married, had children, hell his grandchild was probably sleeping just a few rooms away.

Colonnello felt like his head was spinning and as soon as one truth was tentatively uncovered more questions sprang forward demanding answers.

He could tell all of them felt it. Lal was doggedly still looking for why the fire at the ranch was started. Reborn was subtly fussing over how to mesh Renegade in with Tsuna and his group so there wasn’t a conflict of interest.

Even Fon’s remark about keeping Renegade wasn’t something the Storm just said. It took a lot to catch Fon’s attention, unless of course the person was young and alone. Not to mention Colonnello saw Verde muttering over records of possibly having Rebel’s DNA somewhere in his database.

It was perhaps the one and only time the Arcobaleno wanted to learn one of their own. More than once Colonnello wanted to spit out some childhood story to the others, hoping it was enough to catch their attention the same way Skull’s mysteries had. He wondered if the others felt the same and if the lingering looks, he caught, were an indication of that.

Lying in bed with Lal peacefully sleeping, Colonnello wondered if there was more, he could learn about her. He already knew quite a bit, everything from where she had come from to what her family life was like before she joined the army. He even knew she joined just to stick it to her stepmother who wanted Lal to like makeup and dresses and grow up to get married one day.

He also wondered if the others were just as jealous over the whole wedding invitation thing. He knew Lal had been rather angry when she got hers. She had called him up in a huff asking him if it was some sort of joke that Reborn was playing and how should they tell him that it wasn’t at all funny.

He knew it was difficult to be in a guardian set without a proper Sky. With Skies being so rare, it wasn’t surprising to see some guardian sets work it out. The problem being all members of the set had to be on the same page, had to want to be there, or the fragile Harmony they gained would crumble.

Thirty-plus years however was a long time to get a feel for the others. They knew what not to do and what to do in any given situation. Yet somehow Skull had slipped through their fingers.

It almost stung thinking about it. Knowing a lot of the things he thought he had known were just illusions. That he never really had gotten to know the man at all in the time they had together.

Colonnello wondered if this was some sort of final test. That Skull was gearing up to see if they were sincere in wanting to have him around. That if they failed, Skull would somehow erase his existence from their lives and drift off to somewhere else.

Colonnello wasn’t about to give up his Cloud without a fight. But at the same time, he was unsure where he stood. Even with the contentment he felt having Lal near him, he still felt like something was missing somehow.

Deciding all he was doing was digging himself deeper into his thoughts, Colonnello sighed and slipped out from under Lal. He looked back and grinned as she curled up in the warmth he had just vacated. Her arm instantly looping around to hug the pillow he had been using just a few moments before.

After a quick trip to the bathroom, he headed down the steps. The house was quiet save for the faint clacking of keys on a keyboard. Ducking his head through the doorway to the living room, he found a slightly more rested Verde working on his laptop with a steaming mug of coffee near his elbow.

Shaking his head, Colonnello headed for the kitchen. The coffee pot was on with an almost full pot of soul blackening coffee ready to be poured. He smirked as he got himself a cup and began digging through the fridge.

He slowly pulled out the ingredients of a nice light Asian breakfast. He knew that the smell alone would rouse the others. But until then he quietly set about making some food for the coming flood.

He had a few moments of peace, before the morning stillness was broken by a yawn behind him. He turned to find the rather adorable sight of Renegade waltzing in with a still yawning Haru on her back. Renegade’s makeup looked fresh, though her shirt and pants looked wrinkled and her hair looked like she combed her fingers through it.

“She won’t let go.” Renegade grumbled as she went over to the coffeepot.

“But Ren-chan,” Haru whined softly nuzzling her face into Renegade’s neck, “you’re leaving today.”

“Knowing your luck, we’ll be seeing each other sooner rather than later.” Renegade huffed somehow pouring a cup of coffee while keeping Haru from slipping off her back. “Here, drink my coffee.”

Colonnello chuckled softly at the disgusted look Haru had after taking a sip.

“What sludge was that made from?” Haru asked a bit more awake.

“Caffeinated sludge, obviously.” Renegade shot back with a smirk as she took her own sip. The Cloud blinked before shrugging and almost gulping down another swallow. “Ow, fuck, that’s hot.”

“Ren-chan, sometimes you’re hopeless.” Haru muttered resting her head on Renegade’s shoulder.

Renegade just grunted before going over to Colonnello.

“What’s cooking?” She asked adjusting Haru who slipped a little.

“Breakfast, when do you leave?” Colonnello responded eyeing the semi-conscious girl on Renegade’s back. Haru seemed fine enough where she was, so Colonnello didn’t comment.

“My plane is supposed to be taking off at eight.” Renegade said and Colonnello looked over at the clock. They had three hours at most.

“Enough time for breakfast.” Colonnello concluded getting a sigh from Renegade.

“Only if you make it fast. I still got to hand in my hotel stuff, check in the rental, and make sure my bag is in order.” Renegade yawned before taking another gulp of coffee. “Where’d my keys go anyway?”

“Fon still has them. Finish cooking these omelets and I’ll go find them.” Colonnello said handing her the long chopstick he had been using as cooking utensils.

“Hey babe,” Renegade said lightly nudging Haru as Colonnello headed for the door, “hold my coffee.”

Colonnello almost ran into a drifting Viper as he turned the corner. He gave the Esper a smile as they continued along their way, likely aiming for the coffeepot. Slowly he quietly made his way up the steps and headed for Reborn’s room.

He gave a light knock and slipped around the door. He raised an eyebrow at the two lumps tangled up on the bed, even as Reborn lightly glared at him.

“Where’d Fon put Renegade’s keys?” Colonnello asked simply.

“Nightstand.” Fon mumbled from where he was practically buried under his pillow and what blankets he had stolen from Reborn.

Colonnello went over, navigating through Reborn’s ridiculous traps, and found what he was looking for.

“Food?” Fon’s muffled voice came drifting up, even as Reborn resettled as he practically laid on top of their Storm.

“Cooking, it’ll be done in a few.” Colonnello answered looking down at the lump with a smirk.

“When’s Renegade leaving?” Reborn gruffly asked looking like he didn’t want to move in the slightest.

“After she eats. Her plane leaves at eight.”

“Make me tea.” Fon grumbled and Colonnello snorted before moving to get back to the door. He paused as he looked at one of the traps almost innocently. “Set that off and I’ll break your tibia.”

“Yea, good morning to you too.” Colonnello huffed even as Reborn snickered. “I’ll see you both for breakfast, kora.”

With that he slipped out of the room and shut the door softly. As he walked down the hall he stopped only once to lightly tap out a knock on his door. It would be enough to not only wake Lal, but the sequence of taps would let her know breakfast was going to be done soon.

Colonnello made it back down to the kitchen and grinned.

“I swear, I said hold it, not drink it.” Renegade grumbled even as she let Haru pour a new cup of coffee while the girl was still on Renegade’s back. “Don’t expect me to walk that pot over there either.”

“No drinking out of the pot.” Viper intoned from where they were reading a newspaper.

“Need some help?” Colonnello asked as he went back to the stove.

“She drank my coffee.” Renegade pouted even as she flipped another omelet onto a plate.

“Could you put this back please?” Haru asked holding the pot out to him. He took it with a smirk and easily put it back on the burner.

Colonnello then pulled out the kettle and filled it with water. Fon was not a happy person in the morning if he didn’t have his tea. Once the water was set to boil, Colonnello took over most of the cooking, so the two women could quietly argue over who got to drink their coffee.

By the time the rice was done cooking, Lal had stumbled in, Verde had moved his laptop to the dining table, and Renegade had Haru sitting in her lap, both sharing a larger mug, curtesy of an amused Viper, for their coffee. Fon followed Reborn in a minute later, already heading straight for the smell of tea. Colonnello also finished setting down the last dishes and found a seat next to Lal and Viper.

Breakfast was rather quiet. None of them liked speaking in the morning, instead Viper and Reborn traded several newspapers as they ate. Lal was practically asleep in her rice, while Fon was eyeing Renegade rather offendedly as she stole his teapot of green tea.

The offense morphed into bemusement as Renegade poured the tea into her rice bowl and piled on several other breakfast foods. She then held it over Haru’s head when the girl looked about ready to steal it. Haru had to settle for making her own, before nudging the now rather empty tea pot back Fon’s way.

Slowly over the course of the meal the others gained more life. Lal was no longer trying to snooze in her food, Verde was still behind his laptop absently eating whatever Fon put next to him, and Viper had finished reading the dozen or so newspapers they kept pulling from the air. Haru also claimed the coffee mug as her own while Renegade finished eating whatever Haru had left on her plate.

“Alright, I really gotta go.” Renegade announced standing with an arm looped around Haru’s waist.

“But-” Haru protested.

“No, and no amount of sitting on me is going to change that fact.” Renegade said rolling her eyes and setting Haru down on the chair she just vacated. “So, where the fuck are my keys?”

Haru pouted as Colonnello tossed Renegade her keys. “You’re unfair.”

“Life’s unfair.” Renegade countered shaking her head. “Besides, both you and Cole know how to get ahold of me if you need to. I’m busy though so only if you need to.”

“Alright.” Haru agreed reluctantly only to grumble as Renegade messed up her hair. “Ren-chan!”

Colonnello suddenly remembered he had Renegade’s glasses in his pocket and quickly dug them out.

“Here, you might want these, kora.” He said tossing them to her.

“My lenses! I wondered where they went.” Renegade cheered as she put them back on. “Anyway, stay out of trouble.”

“Shouldn’t we be telling you that?” Fon asked with a smirk.

Renegade flipped him off as she headed out the door. A few seconds later the front door opened and shut before Colonnello could hear the car in the driveway start. Then just like that, Renegade was gone.

“So, what now?” Haru asked blinking at them. “I mean, what’s happening with dad? And everything?”

“According to the official record, you and your father were in a tragic car accident while on vacation.” Viper spoke up simply. “I’ve already arranged for the funeral services to be held tomorrow morning. Shamal was the one to preform the autopsy and Hibari has the police looking the other way. For now, it was decided you will be staying with a family friend until your father’s affairs can be sorted. Would you rather stay here or with Tsuna-san?”

Haru was silent for a moment, likely processing.

“Can I stay here?” She asked looking up at them from under her bangs.

“Of course.” Reborn said simply. “We’ll be busy, but you can stay as long as you want.”

“Thank you.” She said looking down in obvious relief.

“Think nothing of it.” Reborn said with a smirk. “You’re Renegade’s, which means by extension your Skull’s. That makes you one of ours.”

And, as he watched a slow small tentative smile appear on her face, Colonnello couldn’t help but agree with that logic. It wouldn’t matter if Haru stayed with the Vongola or not. From here on out, she was the Arcobaleno’s and that was how it would be from now on.


	11. New Assignment

Colonnello was slightly amused that after Renegade left, Haru attached herself to him. She was trying not to be too noticeable about it, but out of the Arcobaleno she tended to stand closer to him or address him first. Reborn was a bit put out but told him under pain of death to keep an eye on the girl who was clearly not as alright as she liked everyone to believe.

Not that he or anyone else in the house blamed her.

So, around eleven in the morning, when the Varia loudly barged into the safehouse Colonnello was unsurprised that Haru latched onto the back of his jacket in surprise. He just chuckled, looped an arm around her shoulders, and quietly lead her off to another part of the house. In this case, they ended outside in the shade of the fence and a nice large maple.

“Sorry.” She muttered with a flinch as he pulled around his favorite gun and began the routine of maintaining it.

“No problem, kora.” He said as he began organizing the broken-down parts on a large cloth, he usually kept it folded in one of his pockets. “The Varia can be a bit much.”

“Yea, desu.” Haru said absently looking down at all the gun parts. Her eye darting over each component with the sharpness of a scientist as she bit her lip.

“Do you know anything about firearms?” He asked after a moment of her fidgeting in the corner of his eye.

“A bit from the future that won’t be.” Haru answered before hesitantly pulling something out from where it was hidden in the layers of clothes she wore. “Ren-chan also gave Haru this before she left.”

It turned out to be a small Berretta semi-automatic pistol. Not quite like the one favored by police forces, but still a decently powerful nine-millimeter. Colonnello almost smirked at the filed off and acid treated serial number.

“Can you shoot?” He asked even as he reassembled his rifle and began taking apart the new gun in his hands. It was well maintained and likely was Renegade’s backup if she needed one.

“Haru learned, but she hasn’t been able to get a gun yet.” Haru said watching as he laid out each part. “She isn’t sure she can with her cast. She always needed two hands when she had to fire.”

“Better stability and accuracy.” He absently agreed as he set down the last part. “Well, reassemble it.”

Haru blinked at him and he grinned down at her. Then she flushed slightly and began to clumsily put the gun back together. She did a rather good job considering how awkward it was with one of her hands practically immobile.

“You know,” Colonnello began as he checked over her work, “you remember a lot from the future that won’t be.”

“Skull-san made sure.” Haru said with a shrug. “I asked Kyoko-chan what she remembered, and it was mostly what we experienced when the bazooka sent us to the future. Ren-chan said Skull-san chose to have several of his people remember more.”

Colonnello paused and thought that over. He wondered if that was true for all the kids that got sent to the future. He knew even his memories of that future were a bit spotty, despite the Arcobaleno getting the largest of the memory dumps thanks to the pacifiers.

“Do you have specific memories or generalizations?” He asked now interested as he quickly disassembled the gun again.

Haru pursed her lips as he motioned to the unassembled gun but started reassembling it again.

“Some of it is specific memories, mostly the big ones like meeting Ren-chan for the first time. Other stuff is just general information that sometimes comes to me when something happens, or I see something to jog my memory. It’s kind of like having Deja vu.” She said as she reassembled the gun again.

Colonnello purposely took it apart and laid out for her a third time.

“So, did you remember getting kidnapped?” Colonnello asked gently.

“No,” Haru said shaking her head, “I mean I remember it was the reason I was sent away. I remember it was supposed to be bad, but it was more like remembering a history fact from school than having a memory of the actual experience. It’s the same with all the fighting moves Ren-chan taught me. I know I knew them, but some of the stuff I learned I can’t remember specifically.”

“Probably because it hasn’t happened to you physically yet.” Colonnello thought out loud for a second. “The muscle memory you had wouldn’t translate back to your untrained self. So, you might think you know how to throw a punch or block a hit, but your body won’t react like it should.”

It also explained how the other kids weren’t exactly on the ball with Haru’s disappearance. Hibari might have had some notion of it happening, given he did spend some time with the future Kusakabe. But the notion that one of them could be taken was probably not exactly a high priority to them just yet.

It still wasn’t an excuse as far as Colonnello was concerned. Haru was supposed to be their friend and she had been leaving for an extended period. She deserved a bit more thought than what she had been given.

He pushed aside his thoughts to check over the gun Haru reassembled. Then he took it apart for her to do it over again. In the meantime, his thoughts turned to why Skull would want Haru to have more memories of the future than the other kids.

It was clear Haru worked for Skull. She may have been one of those officially unofficial members of the Carcassa Skull sometimes slotted into his operations. But there was no denying she had been his, and she had served some sort of overreaching purpose.

Enough of a purpose to warrant the extra energy needed to transfer more memories than necessary across the timelines. He wondered if Skull or someone else had been in contact with Haru these past couple of years. If so, what did Skull gain from having Haru stick it out here when she could already have been off working for him elsewhere.

Absently he noted they were on round seven of their little game of disassembling and reassembling the gun when the backdoor swung open.

“Haru!” Tsuna said jogging out to them before pausing and eyeing the partially assembled weapon in her hands with wide eyes. “Um.”

“It’s unloaded.” Colonnello huffed motioning the boy over. “Wouldn’t want to accidently get ourselves shot, kora.”

“Haru does know what the safety is, desu.” Haru pouted even as she finished getting the gun back together and handed it to him for inspection. “Did you need something, Tsuna-san?”

Tsuna came over as he was scratching the back of his head nervously. Colonnello deemed the gun properly assembled and promptly began disassembling it again. Outside of a small pout Haru sent him, the two kids seemed to ignore his presence.

“I just wanted to apologize, for not taking your not-calling seriously.” Tsuna said looking like a kicked puppy. “I know I should have. But Kyoko said you were probably busy having fun and I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“Do you really think after the last few years of crazy, Haru would just forget to call in to let all of you know she was safe?” Haru asked sounding rather offended. It looked like she wanted to cross her arms, instead she pulled the trigger to make sure the firing mechanism was in its proper place, causing the gun itself to click ominously.

Tsuna winced.

“I know. I was an idiot.” Tsuna said flopping down to sit with them instead of standing. “I know. It’s just, I don’t want to be the next don or primo or whatever nonsense Reborn likes to spout.”

Tsuna paused looking around nervously before deeming it safe to speak out against his tutor for now.

“Hibari-san says I have a bad habit of blocking out stuff I don’t want to think about. And I really don’t want to think about what happened when we were sent to the future. That was just all a mess and I’m not sure how or why my future-self thought it a good idea in the first place. I mean, shouldn’t he have been better prepared to take on everything?”

Tsuna paused to worry his lip as he looked down at the once again unassembled gun in front of them. Haru began to reassemble it with a bit more assuredness than her previous attempts. Finally, the boy looked up with a look of open sincerity.

“I’m not asking you to forgive me for being an idiot, or just being neglectful. But, you know, I want you to know I am sorry for my part in all this. I just don’t know how to make it up to you.”

Haru was frowning as she deftly finished reassembling the gun and handed it over. Colonnello only pretended to be focused on checking over the work since he was paying closer attention to the two teens. A few seconds of inspection, it still was assembled correctly, and he began disassembling it.

Haru looked…

Colonnello wasn’t quite sure how to describe the expression on her face. It was caught somewhere between stoic blankness and bleak pensiveness. It was in the slight tilt of her eyebrows, the tension around her mouth, and the flickering of her eyes that made it hard to gauge what exactly was going on in that head of hers.

Finally, she sighed as she paused halfway through reattaching the barrel.

“I don’t know how you can make it up to me either.” Haru said with a hint of honesty in her frown. “But dad’s wake is tomorrow. I think I’d like it if you and the others came. But not to the funeral, I don’t think I can handle that just yet. Except Hibari-san, if he wants to show up for both I don’t mind.”

Tsuna blinked slowly before nodding. “Okay, Haru-chan. Let me know if there’s anything else you need.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Haru said seriously going back to reassembling the gun. “And thank you. I can’t find it in me to forgive you, not right now, maybe never. But thank you for apologizing.”

Tsuna’s smile was both a grimace and somehow beaming at the same time.

“Now how about you head back inside. Kyoko-chan needs you right now more than I do.” Haru said dismissively and Tsuna nodded before standing up and leaving.

Colonnello eyed the girl for a long silent moment even as she held up the reassembled gun. He took it and after a quick once over began disassembling it. In the meantime, Haru looked like she was desperately trying not to hug her arms around herself.

It was enough that he sighed, finished setting down the pieces, and dragged her against his chest. He said nothing as he felt the girl shudder for a second before the first hitched breath filled the air. He calmly ran a hand up and down her back as he felt his shirt slowly get dampened with her tears.

There was a reason he enjoyed working at Mafia Land. This side of the mafia rarely darkened his domain as he watched over greedy bastards spend thousands under his care. Sometimes it was easy to forget that the world he was thriving in was dark, twisted, and full of assholes.

Sometimes it was easy to forget the broken lives his current occupation left in its wake.

Eventually Haru settled down and pulled away. She didn’t look at him, but he pulled a bandana from one of his pockets and let her use it as a handkerchief. Then after she finished drying her tears and wiped her nose, she turned back to reassembling the gun Renegade left for her.

 

 

They went back inside when dinner rolled around. Mostly because Colonnello had to be the one to cook or there would be a homicide. He took great pleasure in kicking Bianchi out of his kitchen as well.

“Kora! If you don’t stop poisoning the food! Then you don’t get to cook!” He snarled as he physically picked her up and launched her across the hall into the living room. “Ingredients aren’t cheap!”

Haru was giggling to herself as she dutifully stirred the large pot filled with a hearty beef stew.

“My love!”

“Don’t mess with Colonnello while he cooks.” Reborn’s voice carried over in a frank tone. “Last time he blew up the pantry using just flour and cooking oil.”

Colonnello narrowed his eyes at the door wondering if she would be coming back. Instead Kyoko appeared and froze a little upon seeing him. Then she smiled at him somewhat cutely.

“Do you mind if I help?” She asked eyes darting over to look at Haru.

“You any good with a knife?” He challenged making her smile.

“Best in my cooking class.” She beamed and he snorted before motioning towards the cutting board on the counter.

“Then hop to it, soldier.” He commanded and she skipped past him with a grin.

“No recruiting an army!” Reborn called from where he was still in the living room.

“Sparta, kora!” He shouted back before turning to finish preparing the other side dishes and check on the large roast he had in the oven.

“Next you should definitely kick them in the chest while yelling that.” Haru giggled as she moved back to tending to the various pots on the stove.

“But isn’t it supposed to be ‘This is Sparta’?” Kyoko asked with a small smile as she dutifully chopped up some fresh thyme.

“It is.” He said with a smirk. “Now chop to it, or do you want to suffer through my Gordan Ramsey impression?”

“No sir.” Kyoko said turning back to the cutting board. Still it didn’t stop her from slowing in her chopping a few minutes later. She spoke in a low almost whispery tone, “Um Haru-chan?”

“Yea?” Haru asked just as softly while Colonnello pretended to be engrossed with mashing potatoes.

“Tsu-kun mentioned that your dad’s wake is tomorrow.” Kyoko began carefully. “I know you don’t want the boys around much. But… do you mind if I come with Hana-chan? You know she liked your father.”

“I don’t see a problem.” Haru said hesitating a little. “Do you think Bianchi-chan will try to come as well?”

“Do you want her to?” Kyoko asked and Colonnello noticed her raised eyebrow out of the corner of his eye.

“She… well she doesn’t like Ren-chan and I do.” Haru answered back and Colonnello turned to fish some vegetables out of the steamer. He took note of the fact that she was eyeing the doorway to the hall warily.

“I noticed.” Kyoko said pausing thoughtfully as she carefully scrapped the herbs off the cutting board and went to rinse it so she could start on a pile of vegetables set out for a salad. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t come to the funeral, if it makes you feel better. Someone has to watch I-Pin-chan and Lambo-kun.”

“Thank you.” Haru whispered as Colonnello came up to them.

“How’s that salad coming along?” He asked as he scooped up the freshly cut herbs.

“Almost finished, sir.” Kyoko said with a beam, which was true for the most part.

“You can chop faster.” He said simply as he moved to the pots on the stove and began distributing the herbs. “Haru, start on the gravy.”

“Yes, sir.” Haru said with a grin as she moved to get the utensils she needed.

Dinner came together quickly after that. It would have been quicker, but food did need time to cook. Which was something the other Arcobaleno apparently hadn’t figured out in the long years they had lived.

“Is it done yet?” Verde snapped waltzing into the room with his laptop tucked under his arm.

“We were just going to call everyone to eat.” Kyoko said helpfully as she set out the stack of plates.

“Oh, good.” Verde said grabbing a plate. Colonnello raised an eyebrow at the irate scientist.

“Something up?” Colonnello asked as he motioned for Kyoko to go get the others. The Arcobaleno Rain was carefully helping Haru with her own plate.

“That impudent child seems to forget I don’t work for the Vongola.” Verde hissed violently rattling a spoon to get some of the mashed potatoes onto his plate. “If I have to listen to any more demands of searching my databases because Viper is being a miser…”

“There’s a desk in my room still.” Colonnello offered. “I’ll tell them you’re planning on taking a nap after you eat.”

“Is your computer still there?” Verde asked eyeing him.

“You know the password.” Colonnello smirked.

For a moment the scientist looked like he wanted to hug Colonnello. But opted for quickly snatching up both his plate and his laptop. Then he was rushing out, taking the stairs two at a time.

“Haru-chan,” Colonnello paused looking at the girl. “Do you mind if I go bring some drinks up for him?”

“I’m good.” Haru said carefully balancing her plate with a glass of water tucked to her chest and a fork stabbed proudly into a mound of potatoes like a flag. “I’ll see you in a few minutes. I think I’m going to go sit back where I sat yesterday.”

Colonnello nodded and grabbed the now always brewing pot of coffee from the burner. He headed up the stairs with a mug, catching Fon’s eye and nodding to Haru’s back as he went. The Martial Artist nodded back before moving quickly to grab a plate of food for himself.

It didn’t take long to make it to his room, where Verde sat at the small desk stewing away. Colonnello knew it was bad since the Scientist was completely ignoring his laptop and shoving food into his mouth. It took a lot to get Verde angry enough to ignore whatever project he was working on.

“Here.” Colonnello said setting down the pot and cup. “Figured you could use something to wash down the food.”

“Thank you.” Verde said curtly already pouring the coffee.

“Wanna talk about it?” Colonnello asked raising an eyebrow.

“Not at the moment.” Verde hissed before pausing. “But I will tell you to watch yourself. That brat Xanxus is trying to nose his way into our affairs. He seems particularly interested in both Renegade and the information we received from her. You know the Varia lack a Cloud.”

Colonnello grunted while crossing his arms. “And Renegade already has a Sky. I never met him, but Skull certainly likes him.”

“I figured as much.” Verde said pausing in his mauling of his food. “But you know how the Vongola brats are.”

“Yea,” Colonnello sighed, “yea, I do. Haru doesn’t want them around for the funeral, well aside from Kyoko, her friend Hana, and Hibari.”

“Reborn won’t like hearing that. Already they’re working out how to provide protection for Kyoko now that the threat to her life is apparent.” Verde said shaking his head before chomping on some steamed broccoli.

Colonnello hummed to himself. “I don’t think Reborn will get what he wants on that front. Haru-chan is a lot more stubborn than most credit her with. Maybe one of us should stick around for the funeral just in case, Fon’s pretty good at staying out of sight when needed.”

“Or Viper.” Verde said with a shrug. “They’re getting a bit upset with Xanxus. You know they hate the fact that Xanxus isn’t their Sky. The Varia trying to recruit their actual Mist isn’t helping.”

“I thought the Varia was the most profitable place for them.” Colonnello said thoughtfully.

“It was.” Verde agreed before pausing. “Up until all the shadowy dealings with Skull came to light. No one, not the rest of us or the Vongola or even the Vindice, was able to dig up the intel about us that Skull did. I doubt even that bastard Kawahira knows it all. You know they want those contacts for themselves.”

“That’s true.” Colonnello said simply.

He never did understand Viper’s fascination with information, well not true. He understood the value of good intel especially when dealing with some of the people found in the Mafia World. But the lengths his Mist took it sometimes was rather awe inspiring as far as Colonnello was concerned.

With that in mind, he could easily see how Skull’s intel would attract the Miser. The amount of just legwork needed to dig up some of the intel Skull seemed to possess was tiring to think about. And now, learning that there was a separate intelligence division to Skull’s organization would just wet Viper’s appetite for more.

“Yea, well, I better head back down.” Colonnello said moving away from the desk. He paused at the door to add, “Skull’s laptop is under that stack of files on the right.”

He smirked as he turned since he could already hear Verde rifling through the folders. A lot of the stuff they had on their investigation had been moved to Colonnello’s room. The rest was tucked safely away in Viper’s, though Colonnello wasn’t sure if they would ever see it again now that his Mist was guarding it.

When he made it down the stairs, he noticed I-Pin peering around the corner of the entrance to the living room. She rushed forward when she spotted him and grabbed his hand, tugging it to the room she was just in. He snorted and let the young girl pull him around the corner.

Fon sat with Haru, Kyoko, and Lambo calmly eating. There were two full plates of food waiting as well as a teapot with two unused cups. Colonnello shook his head and gave Fon a lopsided grin as he accepted one of the plates of food the Martial Artist held up their way.

“So how is Verde? Haru mentioned he was thinking of laying down after he finished eating.” Fon asked politely as Colonnello found a seat with his back against the wall.

“Looks like he’s got another migraine due to impudent uneducated heathens.” Colonnello answered and Fon hid a smirk behind his hand. Though the Storm’s eyes were sharp and barely concealed their edge of worry. “He’ll be fine. You know how he needs his quiet space occasionally. I think the loudness of the kids got to him.”

“Ah.” Fon relaxed with a smile.

“So, what have I missed?” Colonnello asked looking around at the small group.

“Nothing you probably didn’t already infer.” Fon said warmly. “The kids are still arguing over the best way to protect Kyoko-chan. Tsuna-san has informed us of Haru’s wish involving her father’s funeral. I called Kyoya-kun earlier and he has agreed to keep an eye out for both days. Something about how he doesn’t need the crowding herbivores causing a ruckus and disturbing Haru-chan’s mourning.”

“That’s almost sweet of him.” Colonnello cooed getting a laugh from Fon.

“Bianchi-chan is upset Renegade-san left before she could speak with her again.” Kyoko said with a frown. “I think she wanted to cause trouble. But then again, Xanxus-san didn’t seem happy about Renegade-san not being here either.”

“She has some info that Xanxus-kun wanted.” Fon offered politely. “However, she had to catch an early flight. She barely had time for breakfast.”

“I heard the big kitty say to the shark-man to send someone to Berlin.” I-Pin piped up in her weird half Chinese half Japanese speech. It was hard to understand, but Colonnello had a lot of practice from the time Fon was being a bastard in their earlier years as Arcobaleno.

“Really now?” Colonnello asked with a smirk. “And did you hear why?”

“He said Renegade-san is supposed to be there.” I-Pin answered with a serious frown. “He says not to tell anyone, but he didn’t tell me that. I’d tell Master anyway. I like Renegade-san, she broke Master’s nose.”

“We’ll keep it secret, promise.” Haru said with a warm smile as Fon reached over to fondly pat the top of I-Pin’s head. “What about you Lambo-kun? Have you heard anything?”

“The big starfish meanie was mad he couldn’t put worms into the celery-head’s computer.” Lambo said with an innocent frown. “But he didn’t have any worms and he didn’t go outside to get any.”

“Well that’s good. I doubt Verde would want his computer ruined by worms.” Fon said with a soft chuckle, Lambo nodded seriously.

“I like celery-head more, he promised to help make my bazooka even more awesome.” Lambo said crossing his arms. “He’s a lot better than that poopy-head Reborn.”

The group nodded in agreement. It made the little boy grin happily. But Colonnello felt eyes on him and glanced to the side to find Reborn sending them an annoyed look.

Colonnello grinned back.

“Although,” Fon began pulling Colonnello’s attention back to the group, “we should probably start meeting at Tsuna’s house from now on. Haru-chan will be safe here. I doubt Reborn appreciates the damage being done to his safe house with the kids running around.”

“Gokudera-kun blew up several bombs earlier when he got into a shouting match with Belphegor-san.” Kyoko nodded solemnly. “Besides, Haru-chan needs her rest.”

“I’m sure if you mention it to Tsuna, he’ll be more than happy to let everyone gather at his place, kora.” Colonnello said simply.

“I’ll tell him after dinner.” Kyoko volunteered. “Besides, I think it would help Bianchi-chan calm down some.”

“She was rather unhappy about how you forced her out of the kitchen.” Fon offered with a pleasant smile.

“Not my fault she doesn’t know how to cook.” Colonnello huffed in annoyance. “It’s bad enough that I’m the only Arcobaleno here that can. I can’t wait until the Lackey is done with his mission so I can dump the task on his ass rather than mine.”

“You know I can help.” Fon offered his hidden grin wide and his eyes almost twinkling with mirth. They both knew Colonnello didn’t really mean to be that harsh.

“No.” Colonnello deadpanned. “Just, no.”

“Is he really that bad in the kitchen?” Kyoko asked wide eyed.

“He prefers Thai cuisine.” Colonnello offered. “I don’t want to be stuck eating curry hot enough to melt my gut. I’d eat crappy take-out before subjecting myself to that torture.”

“But, Colonnello, some spice is good for you. It adds texture and variety to your meal.” Fon defended smoothly.

“Some,” Colonnello agreed, “not an entire bottle of five spice.”

“If five spice is too much, we can always replace the amount by adding one or two other spices.” Fon said suggestively making Colonnello scowl.

“There is nothing wrong with just adding chili powder to spice things up.” Colonnello shot back. “At least I know it won’t give me heartburn afterwards.”

“Since when has any of the other spices given you heartburn?” Fon asked. “You’re just being ridged now. Why not live a little and add some adventure to your palate?”

“I’ve added adventure.” Colonnello defended. “Do you know how long it took to get chili powder to agree with me? Why would I subject myself to even more pain now?”

“Who says expanding your tastes will be painful?” Fon offered with a cat-like grin. “Not all spices are hot after all. Some are light and subtle while others are citrusy or earthy. You really don’t have to be afraid of them you know.”

“Haru-chan?” He heard Kyoko whisper lowly.

“Who says I’m afraid? Maybe I like being slightly bland.” Colonnello sniffed offendedly.

“Yea?” Haru whispered back.

“There’s nothing wrong with that, I assure you.” Fon placated with a grin. “But perhaps you shouldn’t limit your options so much. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying yourself now that the curse is gone.”

“I don’t think they’re arguing over food anymore.” Kyoko whispered sounding confused.

“I am enjoying myself.” Colonnello huffed. “But we’ve also been busy. Hard to kick back and relax with everyone else butting in on my vacation.”

“You might be right.” Haru agreed solemnly. “Should we leave them to this?”

“Yeah.” Kyoko agreed standing up.

“Something wrong?” Fon asked turning to her.

“We’re done eating.” Kyoko said motioning to their empty plates. “I’m just going to help Haru put her plate away. Maybe we can start on the dishes.”

“Yea, it’ll keep us out of the way of the boys, desu.” Haru said with a large grin.

“Don’t get your cast wet.” Colonnello said handing his empty dish to Kyoko when she outstretched her hand. “You don’t want to know how uncomfortable it can be.”

“We’ll come help you in a minute.” Fon said also handing over his empty dish. “I think one of us needs to go check on Verde at least.”

“Okay!” Kyoko beamed before turning to the kids. “Lambo-kun, I-Pin-chan, do you two want to help?”

“Yes/Sure!” The two shouted and followed the girls out of the room.

Almost as soon as the kids were out of sight, Fon snatched Colonnello’s bandana off his head. The bastard Storm smirked as he ducked out of the room. Colonnello quickly followed with a curse as his Storm flew up the stairs.

Colonnello crested the top just as he saw Fon almost dive into his room. Narrowing his blue eyes, Colonnello dashed the few feet down the hall and shouldered his way into the room. Absently he noted the door slamming shut behind him as his eyes landed on his target.

Fon yelped as Colonnello pounced, taking the Martial Artist to the ground. The two tumbled across the floor until they bumped into the edge of the bed. Fon laughed as he was pinned down with Colonnello kneeling over his stomach.

“Must you two make such a ruckus?” Verde asked making both look over. The scientist was smirking as he leaned back on the chair that was turned sideways. The Lightning shaking his head at them almost fondly.

“He started it.” Colonnello accused tugging his bandana free only because Fon hadn’t quite recovered.

“And I thought you were supposed to be having fun on your vacation.” Fon teased as he caught his breath from laughing.

“So how are things downstairs?” Verde asked as Colonnello got up, making a point of pushing Fon back down when the Storm tried to do the same.

“Dinner is wrapping up.” Colonnello said getting a nod in return.

“Reborn will likely get rid of the kids faster since Renegade is no longer here.” Fon said standing up only to almost flop onto the bed like an overgrown cat. “I already said my goodnight to I-Pin, so she knows not to stick around.”

“Kyoko-chan will likely force them out quickly. She will want to get some sleep so she can come back early.” Colonnello offered as he went over to lean his hip against the desk. “What have you been up to?”

“I finally managed to fully hack into the laptop Skull had in his apartment.” Verde said with a smirk. “There’s nothing truly incriminating on the surface. But some of the hidden files I’ve been finding are interesting.”

“Anything useful?” Fon asked as he stretched before settling back more comfortably.

“I got a short list of all the minions Skull currently has active in Japan. It is a short list too. Fifteen active and twelve labeled as inactive, though I’m not sure what that means just yet. They seemed to be mostly around the Kyoto region with a few flung about in the other populated cities. There’s also one active agent in Okinawa, but none seem to be around Namimori.” Verde said sipping some coffee.

“Didn’t Renegade say she had a man here looking out for Haru?” Fon asked with a frown.

“Probably a temporary agent.” Colonnello said shaking his head. “I’m thinking the active and inactive are permanent agents he has. Inactive are probably sleepers, while the active ones are probably furthering some agenda he has.”

“I got that impression as well.” Verde said simply. “I just haven’t found a way to confirm it yet. Skull has proven quite fond of his codenames and matching those to actual citizens is proving an interesting challenge.”

“That sounds fun.” Fon said with a lazy grin. “Maybe I should stay up here and help out. It’ll save me from the inevitable showdown between us and the Varia.”

“Is Viper really going to side with us on the whole Piedmont situation?” Colonnello asked with a frown.

“They’re definitely on our side.” Fon said with a smirk. “They’re already back channeling the Varia archives searching for anything that might pinpoint the cause for the whole thing. I also suspect they’re looking for Renegade’s father. Tyr may have been a bastard, but he was a proud organized bastard. Disrupting an Arcobaleno operation without consequences will warrant some gloating on his part.”

Colonnello frowned as he was reminded of that. From what he could piece together both with what he learned recently and what he had learned prior, he could tell Rebel had a hard life. She was clearly Mafia to some extent, probably dragged in when she became Flame Active.

Not for the first time he wished Skull had trusted them enough to come to him. Oh sure, he probably would have ragged on his Cloud for being a toddler with children. But at the end of the day he would have done his best to make sure Skull’s kids were safe.

Then again, Colonnello knew Rebel von Todesfall’s reputation. Not just her sexual reputation of sleeping with Skies and leaving them weeping. But her reputation as a smuggler.

Some of the supplies that came into Mafia Land could only be acquired through her services. He hadn’t thought to investigate how she was such a magnificent smuggler. But now things were starting to make sense, especially because her business had remained neutral for so long.

The bottom feeders weren’t stupid enough to mess with anyone associated with the Arcobaleno, even the supposed weakest of them.

“The trouble,” Verde stressed bringing Colonnello out of his thoughts, “will be getting Lal’s stance.”

“Hm?” Colonnello asked blinking at them.

“Reborn might be under contract with the Vongola, but Viper and Lal technically work for them. They might be part of independent divisions, but Viper always had an out if need be.” Fon said seriously with a sigh. “Lal committed herself to the CEDEF. She’s one of their top-ranking members. The Vongola won’t be pleased if she walks.”

“Viper’s top ranking as well.” Colonnello defended with a frown.

“Yes and no.” Verde said with a shrug. “It was a given that should Xanxus ever find his true Mist, Viper was going to step down as the Mist officer. They might appear close to the Varia, that Storm brat especially, but you know how deceiving Viper can be about being someone’s friend.”

“You should see how much the Varia bristle when we call them Viper.” Fon said with a catty grin that had a bit too many teeth. “Those kids insist that Viper’s name is Mammon. I think even they are starting to enjoy it when we call them Viper and it causes those brats to cringe.”

Colonnello hummed before holding out his hand to Verde. “Anyway, I’ll take your dirty dishes down. Haru is still pretty clinging and we don’t need to her to have a panic attack if the kids crowd her.”

“Fair enough,” Verde said passing over his empty plate and utensils. The pot was still half full and Verde clutched his still steaming mug like it was a lifeline. “If you can, tell Viper to come up here so we can discuss tomorrow.”

“Sure.” Colonnello said before heading towards the door.

“What about tomorrow?” Fon asked as Colonnello left the room and headed down the stairs.

 

 

The younger kids were out the door shortly after the last dish had been wiped dry and put back into the cupboard. There were a few heartfelt farewells between Tsuna’s group and Haru before she ushered them out. Then she had given him a hug, mumbling into his shirt how thankful she was he spent the day with her before admitting she was heading up stairs to take some painkillers and head to bed.

Colonnello watched her go with a slight smile. She was a good kid, eccentrics aside. He was kind of glad she had people like Renegade watching over her.

Still he had fished out another coffee pot since he doubted Verde was willing to part with the one in his possession and set out some after party drinks. He could hear the Varia still in the living room and wondered how long it would be until Viper teleported them away. The thought of his Mist exerting themselves because the Varia was being stubborn, caused Colonnello to frown.

Perhaps tonight he would be the one doing the ejecting.

With that in mind he turned and set about making Reborn’s after dinner espresso. Fon had already slipped downstairs long enough to snatch up a hot pot of tea and refill Verde’s pot of coffee. That left Lal and his after dinner hot chocolate and Viper’s cup of warm milk with a dollop of honey.

A glance in the fridge let Colonnello know he would have to go shopping soon. The strawberry milk was almost gone, they needed some more fresh vegetables, and his large bottle of his favorite sports drink was looking depressingly empty. There was enough for tomorrow’s breakfast, so Colonnello finished puttering around the kitchen and left with the beverages and some light desert on a platter.

The lines were clearly drawn as he walked into the living room. On one side sat the Varia, taking up an armchair and one of the sofas. On the other side were Reborn, Lal, and Viper.

Lal was standing next to the sofa with her arms crossed and scowl on her face. Reborn sat almost front and center with his legs crossed looking every inch the stoic hitman he was. Meanwhile Viper was almost huddled on the far end of the sofa away from Lal, not trying to draw attention to themselves.

Colonnello ghosted past the sofa of Varia, dropping off the second pot of coffee and a few cups, and made his way towards the other Arcobaleno. He handed Lal both of her and his cups of hot chocolate, then passed Reborn his cup of espresso. He paused to drop some of the deserts off onto the desk next to this sofa and grabbed Viper’s drink.

He knew what he was about to do would be considered the epitome of stupidity. But he couldn’t pass up the opportunity, not after what he heard from Fon and Verde. He just hoped Viper didn’t charge him enough money to buy a small country for this stunt.

He leaned down as he passed the Mist their cup of warm milk.

“Morgan,” he said lowly, almost too lowly for the Varia to hear but from the way a few started he knew better, “Verde needs your help upstairs.”

Viper’s only reaction was to raise their face enough to show off their small smirk. It wasn’t even the smirk usually associated with scenting a small fortune in their future. In the low light under their hood, Colonnello could almost see silvery-indigo eyes that softened in something close to gratitude.

Next to them, Reborn’s non-stiffening reaction only displayed his surprise to Colonnello and Lal. The sharp way those dark eyes cut towards Colonnello also said chaos was on the horizon. Lal’s growing smirk didn’t help matters.

“What did you just say?” Xanxus asked lowly even as Viper took that moment to disappear in a swirl of Mist.

“Verde needs their help with something.” Colonnello clarified with a casual shrug as he leaned over Reborn to grab the cup of hot chocolate Lal held out for him.

“Not that, peasant.” Belphegor almost hissed. “What did you just call Mammon?”

Colonnello hummed and blinked, “Mammon?”

He paused a long second.

“Oh! Viper.” He said with a smirk and then he shrugged. “I just used their first name. They don’t mind if I don’t use their Varia code name all the time.”

The looks he received for that were both cold and venomous. The blond Storm looked especially close to getting up and crossing the room to strangle him. He didn’t doubt that none of the Vaira would stop Prince the Ripper if he tried.

Colonnello calmly took a sip of his hot chocolate in the face of the scowls.

Reborn’s dark low chuckle cut through the tension. “As I said before, Xanxus. You don’t know half of what goes on among the Arcobaleno. All you have are rumors the rest of the Mafia tosses about.”

“What rumor are they going on about now?” Colonnello sighed into his cup.

“Skull being the weakest.” Lal offered with a snort. “I know we say that, but we got a reason for it.”

“And what’s that reason?” Squalo cut in tersely. “He certainly seems to scream and run whenever he’s confronted with the rest of the Mafia.”

“You were a kid when we were cursed, right?” Colonnello asked almost gently. “No wait, you’re not even thirty yet. That would mean you weren’t born.”

“What does that have to do with anything, trash?” Xanxus asked scowling at him.

“It means,” Colonnello started glancing at the other two before back to the Sky across from him, “by the time you were Mafia, the stories of Skull from Hell had almost completely died out. These days you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who remembers them.”

“Skull from Hell?” Belphegor snorted with a sinister snicker. “You really think we’d fall for that?”

“I almost forgot about those stories.” Lal groaned into her hand. “Then again, it’s been a while since Skull razed a Famiglia to the ground.”

“What?” Belphegor suddenly stopped snickering and frowned a bit.

“None of us were exactly happy about being cursed.” Reborn said smoothly after taking a sip of his espresso. “Fon tore apart a fourth of the Triads. Verde gained his reputation as a mad scientist. Even these two waged an all-out war, tearing apart the Mafia in search of Checkerface.” Reborn paused to indicate the two next to him. “Skull’s response was… Cloudy.”

Colonnello nearly snorted his hot chocolate at that while Lal sighed.

“Almost the day after we were cursed, he was already in a full-blown rage unlike anything the Mafia has seen in a while.” Lal added in calmly. “He took off almost as soon as he got his feet under him. We only heard about it after we regrouped at one of Reborn’s nearby safe houses. By then Skull was slashing his way through anything remotely Mafia.”

“I hear the Vindice tried to send some people out to calm the situation.” Colonnello offered with a smirk. “It’s considered the reason there’s a bit of bad blood between him and Bermuda. That creep doesn’t like passing up a chance to get in a cheap shot against Skull when he can.”

“The reason he targeted Skull’s team in the trial.” Lussuria grumbled piecing it together.

“Part of the reason.” Reborn smirked. “Had he not taken out Skull, Tsuna might not have needed to plead for our freedom. Skull would have had Bermuda buried four feet into the earth and snarling over him like a rabid animal after destroying all the Vindice agents interfering in the trial.”

“He turned fighting the Vindice into an artform those first few years we were cursed.” Lal said with a hint of prideful awe to her voice. “It’s a pity he went weak afterwards.”

“Went weak?” Xanxus asked with narrowed eyes.

Lal shrugged. “He was in the best position to hold the title of strongest among us in those earlier years. Reborn here couldn’t exactly oppose him since he was still tripping over his feet. But once we got on the scene he just backed off and went back to the stupid kid we first met.”

“He let his status fall until he had the weakest standing amongst the eight of us.” Reborn said with a put-upon sigh. “It’s why we’re always on his case for being the weakest. He purposely keeps himself vulnerable for whatever reason. I’m half convinced it’s to lull the Mafia World into a false sense of security.”

“That’d be a bitch.” Colonnello snickered at the thought.

Their Cloud had already done just that. And they only had a few bits and pieces to put that together. Colonnello couldn’t wait to get the whole picture.

“But we’re not really talking about Skull.” Lal said redirecting the conversation. “Well, not explicitly. He will be less than pleased to hear the Varia are looking to poach his minions. Not even we get to poach his minions unless we ask especially nicely.”

“And offer up our first-borns to replace the minion he would be losing.” Colonnello added on noticing the way a few of the Varia tried to hide their nervous glances to one another. “You’d be surprised how territorial he can be. So what minion are they trying to poach?”

“Renegade-chan of course.” Reborn said with a smirk.

“We don’t want to poach her.” Squalo put in with narrow eyes. “But if she wants to work for us, we won’t turn her away.”

“Nah,” Colonnello shook his head. “She’s not really an assassin. Though she does some enforcer work from time to time, she’s more of a fixer than anything.”

“Is that what she was doing, fixing things?” Xanxus asked with a frown. “Because I would love to hear why she thought it a good idea to drop info that the Vongola will be targeting one of the Arcobaleno, then suddenly skip town before offering up any details.”

“It’s an Arcobaleno issue.” Reborn said simply. “Plus, she likely doesn’t trust the Vongola since it’s her boss that they will be targeting.”

“The Varia are independent of the Vongola.” Xanxus stressed with a frown.

“Not according to the recent regulations passed by the Nono.” Lal countered with a raised eyebrow. “But she told me more than enough for the CEDEF to look into it. That is our purpose after all. You should stick with working with Reborn about the threat to Kyoko-chan. You know if someone gets close enough it could involve Tsuna.”

Xanxus growled lowly glaring at her.

“Anyway,” Colonnello declared after finishing his hot chocolate, “it’s late.”

“And?” Levi challenged with a huff.

“And, we have an early morning tomorrow.” Colonnello countered with a roll of his eyes. “I still have to speak to Viper and Fon about finalizing the last few things for the funeral tomorrow. Kora! Which reminds me, Reborn, the kids are planning on going to Tsuna’s after the wake.”

Reborn gave him a nod of understanding as Colonnello moved towards the Varia.

“This means you have to leave now.” Colonnello said simply looking Xanxus in the eyes.

Colonnello didn’t even really react to the knives heading his direction. He knew the Storm brat was stunned when the blades stopped dead half a foot away from him without him looking. The subtle Rain Flames keeping the knives in place were barely visible and Colonnello didn’t even blink as he continued to stare down Xanxus.

“You know,” Colonnello said almost cheerfully, “it’s been a few years since the Vongola were major partners among the investors of Mafia Land.”

Xanxus stiffened before sighing. “Let’s go. The trash is right, it’s late. And I need a drink.”

Colonnello happily lead them to the door. He even cheerfully ignored the nasty look the Storm sent his way. Then he took the time locking up after they had left.

“Are they gone?” Fon asked sauntering down the stairs with Verde and Viper on his heels.

“Just left.” Colonnello offered as he stood in the doorway to the living room. Reborn and Lal were finishing their sweep of bugs, pulling more than a few from various parts of the room.

Fon smirked as he passed. Verde eyed the collection of listening devices with a small snort. And Viper paused right in front of Colonnello.

He would like to make it clear that he suspected something might be up. The fact that Viper hadn’t immediately announced he owed the miser all his retirement money for the next hundred years gave that away. So, he was braced for something.

Just not a punch to his solar plexus.

Colonnello coughed as the wind rushed out of his lungs. He bent forward so he was almost eye level with the Mist. His Mist who was smirking rather chillingly at him.

“That was for being an idiot.” Viper said simply.

Then Viper threw their arms around Colonnello’s neck and kissed him square on the lips. Colonnello’s mind shut down for a second as he tried to process what was happening. He blamed the lack of oxygen going to his brain for the shutdown.

“Thank you for being an idiot.” Viper said after pulling back.

Colonnello was pretty sure his flush and lightheadedness was because he still was oxygen deprived. But he did his best to nod back even as he stood to try and regain his breathing. He said nothing as the move drew Viper closer to him because the Mist still had their arms wrapped around his neck.

In fact, the Mist just hopped slightly to wrap their slim legs around his waist and snuggled into his shoulder. Colonnello was more focused on regaining his normal breathing pattern to notice much else. But as he finally felt his breath settle, he noticed Viper eyeing Lal over their shoulder.

“I’m keeping him. He’s now mine.” Viper declared simply.

“Now wait a minute.” Lal hissed though there was something like humor dancing in her eyes. “He was mine first.”

“Nope, you don’t get him back.” Viper shook their head. “You waited too long, now he’s mine.”

“How about we work out a deal?” Lal offered with a smirk. “Like a timeshare.”

“Uh, guys, I’m not a rental.” Colonnello felt and heard himself say without really thinking.

“We’ll work something out.” Viper decided curtly. “But for now, he’s mine. Verde can sleep in your room.”

“I suppose.” Lal sighed while Colonnello could only splutter incoherently at that declaration.

“What is even going on?!” Colonnello asked the ceiling though he did loop an arm around Viper’s waist because he felt them slipping on his hip.

“I believe you just became Viper’s slave.” Fon offered helpfully though his snickers. “Lal has agreed and is willing to share so long as you remain her slave as well.”

Colonnello’s heavy sigh felt like it had meaning. Though Colonnello wasn’t sure what he was trying to convey. He hoped it was a good meaning that expressed his disbelief at what just happened.

“Now that’s out of the way.” Reborn said with a smirk. “We still have some things to discuss about tomorrow.”

“Like what we’re doing about your wife if she causes a ruckus?” Verde asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Wife?” Reborn asked startled.

“Yes, you know, Bianchi.” Lal said with a snort.

“Bianchi isn’t my wife.” Reborn denied and Colonnello was sure his wasn’t the only judgmental eyebrow raised. “She isn’t.”

“Then explain the wedding invitations, kora.” Colonnello tossed out there.

“And the marriage license.” Viper added as they rested their head on Colonnello’s shoulder.

“What marriage license?” Reborn frowned as he looked at each of them.

Colonnello sighed again with meaning.

“What. Marriage. License?” Reborn growled in the extended silence.

It was going to be a long night.


	12. Farewell Salute

He would like for it to be known that Viper was quite adamant about their sudden claim to his person. Admittedly he did go to bed in his room, to Verde’s fingers clacking on a keyboard. But when he woke up, he found himself being used as Viper’s new favorite body pillow.

It was mildly disorienting but in that exasperating fond way. Viper was not much of a tactile person, so it was nice to have them so at ease. It also turned out that Viper liked to cuddle more than Lal.

The Mist had practically wormed their way into Colonnello’s shirt while they had slept. The only excuse he was given was that he was warm. Colonnello wondered if Skull would kill him if Colonnello tossed his Cloud into bed with their Mist.

He liked cuddling with Lal, damnit.

Not that he minded cuddling with Viper. The Mist tended to let their Flames ghost over the objects around them when they were relaxed. It left a sort of soft warm tingling sensation in the air that reminded him of soft warm blankets.

Not that he’d tell Viper that.

But after the conversation the night before, Colonnello needed something comfortable. Reborn hadn’t been pleased to know that he was technically married to Bianchi. It had kind of took Colonnello by surprise as well.

He had known about the supposed wedding. He hadn’t known that the girl had been bold enough to get the hitman to sign a marriage contract without his knowledge. The fact that it had been Skull who dug up that juicy bit of information was oddly unsurprising by this point, however.

It seemed that when Verde had been exploring the hidden files on the laptop, he found several large files pertaining to the recent events in the Arcobaleno’s lives. There was a copy of Yuni’s actual birth certificate. The recent medical files Fon had, the awards recently credited to Verde, even the latest status reports from Mafia Land that he had just issued before his vacation.

Skull had tabs on all of them, including their new current location right down to the street address. The files updating had been what clued Verde into the fact they existed. Otherwise, they would have been none the wiser that such delicate information was stored somewhere.

It also explained why Skull always seemed to know when they needed him. It always made Colonnello a little unnerved that his Cloud seemed to appear exactly where he was needed when he was needed. Sometimes they didn’t even have to call the Stuntman since he’d just happen to be in the area, usually goofing off somehow.

Like the time Colonnello needed to discretely remove some unwanted visitors to Mafia Land, and he found Skull not far off the coast lounging on a yacht and enjoying time off with his octopus. Or the time Lal needed Skull to be a distraction and the Cloud had been sampling chocolates almost a street over from where Lal was hunkered down in her temporary base. It was even more eerie because both times neither had noticed the change in their Pacifiers signaling another Arcobaleno was close by.

Colonnello conceded it would get even more unnerving now they didn’t have the Pacifiers to act as homing beacons.

The only times, that Colonnello could think of at least, that such a thing occurring while they were cursed, was with some sort of Flame suppressant. Like the chain Verde made and Viper stole, giving it the name the Mammon Chain. There was also a time when Reborn purposely took some of Verde’s experimental Flame suppressants while on a job with Lal to hide the tell-tale glow of his Pacifier.

The Chain was arguably the safer choice. Reborn had almost died because the suppressants messed with the Flame output feeding his Pacifier. Verde went back to drawing board and everyone swore to never try that again.

Colonnello couldn’t figure out how Skull pulled it off. Fon had once speculated that Skull was just that in control of his Flames to mask them so well. But not even Reborn could do that, and he was by far the best Flame user among them.

But back to the files.

Apparently while Viper was reading through most of the information, Verde was cloning the files and network connection. According to Verde it wasn’t even Skull who was updating the information. The person behind the update was likely Renegade, or one of her associates, since Verde had managed to follow the VPN signature until it got lost in the Netherlands.

But Verde was sure it was someone who recently had contact with Renegade, since she was the one who knew the address among Skull’s associates.

That meant they had a whole network of spies keeping tabs on their every move. It made the hair on the back of Colonnello’s neck stand up. But Verde assured them that the files were for Skull’s eyes only, since while his minions could put in data, they didn’t have access to the complete files.

It was still uncomfortable. Almost as uncomfortable as Reborn’s stewing anger and his mutterings about needing to speak with Bianchi. Colonnello was kind of glad he wouldn’t be in the room for that discussion.

Haru had asked Colonnello to go with her to the wake.

So, after waking to Viper trying to wriggle into his clothes for more body heat. Colonnello had stumbled into the shower and then made his way across the hall to his temporary closet. He raised an eyebrow as he saw the tangle of limbs on the bed.

Lal opened one of her eyes as he made his way to his closet in a towel. She had been drooling on Verde’s shoulder blades since the scientist was sprawled almost spread eagle on his stomach with his face buried in the pillows. Lal raised an eyebrow at Colonnello, and he raised one right back at her.

“Getting ready for the wake?” She asked as he fished out a nice tailored suit he had brought along just in case.

“What else?” Colonnello asked before motioning to the half-naked Verde. “Do I want to know?”

“His typing was making it hard for me to sleep. So, I decided he needed a nap just as much as I did.” Lal said with a smirk.

“You still didn’t have to toss me over your shoulder onto the bed.” Verde grumbled his face buried into the pillow. “And you better have not drooled on me.”

Lal grinned, grabbed a bit of the sheet, and began lightly mopping up the pool of drool she had left on the man’s back.

“You’ll survive.” She said sweetly as Colonnello huffed a laugh while quickly buttoning up the nice white silk shirt. He was putting it on over a white bulletproof vest that looked like an undershirt since he couldn’t wear his usual shirt and jacket.

“I hate you, woman.” Verde grumbled into the pillow as he stretched before settling back down.

“How about I give you a massage instead?” Lal offered watching Colonnello dress even as she patted Verde’s back. “All that hunching over a desk isn’t good for your posture.”

Colonnello slipped on a shoulder holster and grabbed a CZ P-01 pistol off the dresser where he and Lal had set out their smaller arms. He would have to leave his rifle at the safehouse, but he wasn’t going to this unarmed. Kyoko would be there and there was still a threat to her life after all.

After a thought he reconfigured his holster so he could add two more magazines just in case. He also took the time to neatly roll up his sleeves as he headed over to pull out his suit jacket. He still needed to make breakfast and he really didn’t want to get his nice dark suit messy.

“I’ll be downstairs cooking.” He said sharing a quick kiss with Lal. “Breakfast in twenty.”

“We’ll be there.” Lal said with a grin.

“Make coffee.” Verde grumbled even as he seemed to drift off again.

One plus, he figured, was that Verde was looking a bit better. The forced meals and sleeping times were lessening the bags under the scientist’s eyes. He could even hear Lal wrestling their Lightning out of bed for a shower.

Colonnello had never really known a time when Verde had a set care schedule. The only one stubborn enough to really get on the scientist’s case was Skull. Even then Verde dropped the routine almost as soon as the Cloud drifted off on another little adventure.

Maybe they should have a main base for the Arcobaleno that wasn’t that mansion Luce made for them. Even for Colonnello the place held some pretty bad memories of their curse. He doubted any of them would willingly set foot in that place now.

But a more permanent base, somewhere for Verde to hide out in his labs, Fon to escape to when the triads got too much. Maybe a good vacationing spot for himself when the board of directors on Mafia Land were testing his patience. Colonnello could see the benefit of something like that, especially if it was some place even Skull would willingly stay at when needing a place to rest from his wandering.

Those were the thoughts that occupied him as Colonnello worked on preparing breakfast. Viper drifted in to once again read their deluge of newspapers, though they were sporting a fancier black cloak. Then Haru came almost stumbling in dressed in a simple black dress and rubbing sleep out of her eye.

“I got it. Why don’t you go sit with Viper for a bit?” Colonnello gently coaxed the girl towards the table when she looked like she was heading towards the stove.

“Here.” Viper said shoving a newspaper at the girl when she looked like she was going to protest. “Look the incident reports over carefully. I want your take on what is going on in Palermo based on the reported crimes.”

“O-Okay, desu.” Haru said blinking as she began flipping through the paper.

Colonnello gently set down a mug of coffee and slid it next to the girl’s elbow before turning back to breakfast. Slowly the rest of the house woke as well, making Colonnello put on a kettle of water in anticipation of a grumpy Fon. The tea was just finishing steeping when his Storm drifted in looking like a harassed cat.

“Reborn is still upset.” Fon informed the room in general as he poured a cup of tea.

“Why would Reborn-san be upset?” Haru asked blinking over the newspaper at the Storm.

“Mou, it turns out Bianchi tricked him into signing a marriage license without his knowledge.” Viper answered with a languished shrug. “We knew he supposedly had a marriage to her, but none of us knew it was official until recent events brought it to light.”

“Oh! Haru remembers that desu!” Haru said perking up. “Bianchi-chan wanted a wedding in May the spring after she showed up at Tsuna-san’s house. She had Kyoko-chan and Haru help her plan it. Though Reborn-san didn’t seem rather enthusiastic and even appeared somewhat stiff at the ceremony.”

“Stiff how?” Viper prodded curiously.

“Kind of like he was a puppet or something. I remember Tsuna-san and Dino-san were very anxious. They kept messing with some sort of controller when they thought no one was looking.” Haru said before taking a sip of the coffee and cringing. “This still tastes like sludge, desu.”

“Thank Verde.” Colonnello said slightly surprised that Fon and Viper echoed him.

“Thank me for what?” Verde asked coming in with fresh clothes and his laptop under his arm. “Lal’s in the shower by the way.”

“Your particular morning brew of coffee doesn’t appeal to our current guest.” Fon said motioning to Haru who ducked behind the paper she was supposed to be reading.

Verde huffed. “I’m not particularly fond of it either. Far too bitter and the beans are too overly roasted for my tastes.”

“Then why do you drink it?” Fon asked.

“To remind myself to stay awake long enough for the better coffee to finish brewing.” Verde deadpanned.

Haru’s stifled giggles filled the air.

“Mou, are you ready to give me your take on Palermo? Time is money.” Viper nudged the girl’s good arm as Colonnello came over to set down the first few plates of breakfast food.

Reborn came in shortly after, a frown still cutting deep into his lips. Though he did relax a little as Colonnello rolled his eyes and practically shoved a morning espresso into his Sun’s hands. It did nothing to soften the crisp lines of Reborn’s ironed and pressed suit, however.

The Hitman was looking all business and that was never a good sign.

The last to come down was Lal, her hair still slightly damp from her shower. She made it just in time for Colonnello to set down the last dish and declare the meal ready to be devoured. It was a quiet meal all told, though Haru’s voice as she spoke to Viper and the clacking of Verde’s laptop filled the mercurial peace.

“So, are you ready Haru-chan?” Fon asked gently as the meal came to an end.

Haru managed a trembling breath and shook her head. “No.”

“That’s okay.” Reborn assured reaching over and looping an arm around the girl to give her a hug. “Don’t worry about the temple or any of that. Viper was able to take care of the arrangements and a close colleague of your father saw to the matsugo-no-mizu.”

“But will he…” Haru trailed off and Viper squeezed her shoulder.

“The priest was paid off.” Viper informed her frankly. “It’s a closed casket. The excuse was the injuries he sustained in the accident. I also made sure to triple check all the important things that needed to go with him to the other side.”

“Oh,” Haru blinked, “okay. So, there will just be his picture in front of it right?”

“That’s the plan.” Viper said with a serious nod. “Colonnello and I won’t be far off either. He’ll stay with you through the vigil since I’m in charge of looking after Kyoko-chan. Everyone will think he’s your temporary guardian in this trying time, so no one will question his presence. But since we couldn’t find any other family, your father’s boss will help you separate the bones tomorrow.”

“What about the gifts for the koden?” She asked wringing her hands.

“Already taken care of.” Fon said with a smile. “Viper’s going to be keeping an eye on that for you, though you’re going to have to accept them.”

“Okay,” Haru said nodding, “okay, desu. Haru can do this.”

“Are you finished getting ready?” Colonnello asked as he unrolled his sleeves and began rebuttoning his cuffs.

“Yea.” Haru nodded blinking back a few tears.

“Then let’s get you to the car.” Colonnello said standing up and sliding on his jacket. “We got to get there a bit early so you’re in place.”

Haru nodded and stood as well. Viper smirked and took the girl’s good hand as Colonnello eyed the dishes. Lal pushed him to the door with a roll of her eyes.

“We’ll take care of the dishes. And text us with anything you think we need to pick up. I know you got your standard list but one of us has to go shopping today.” Lal said shooting the last bit at Fon with a pointed glare.

 

Colonnello hated funerals. It didn’t matter that he was attending a slightly different funeral than he was used to. They still had the same sort of bleakness to them, traditions aside.

Although he did go to a few rather colorful funerals before. His favorite had been one in New Orleans when one of his subordinates died. At first it was a rather bleak affair like any other, but the ruckus celebration of the small parade was uplifting.

Having watched Haru gracefully accept condolence money while doing her best not to bawl, was just something he would have rather not done. She did give it a good job, barely letting that upper lip of hers quiver too much. Then she went to sit in front of everyone with a few of her father’s closest work associates.

Colonnello had taken a seat in the back. He hadn’t known Miura-sensei, regardless of knowing his daughter in passing. So, it was only respectable he was one of the ones furthest away from the family.

The fact that it gave him a good view of the room to spot any potential threats was a bonus.

Viper shifted next to him a bit uncomfortably.

“Something the matter?” He asked lowly to avoid drawing attention from the chanting priest.

“This just reminds me of…” Viper said motioning to the room around them. “Of what happened.”

Colonnello blinked and tried to wrack his brain to understand what his Mist was trying to convey.

“Do you remember the funeral we gave Skull?” Viper asked suddenly.

“It wasn’t much.” Colonnello said though it was a fuzzy memory for him.

“No.” Viper agreed with a sigh. “We didn’t even have the Cloud Pacifier.”

There was a pause as the priest moved on to another long sutra.

“Reborn said they couldn’t even find yours.” Viper said suddenly.

“Put it in an experimental box weapon Skull had Verde make.” Colonnello offered. “Knew I was going down and didn’t want that creep to get his hands on it. Only the Vongola Sky Ring could open it. Otherwise it seemed like a useless empty box weapon.”

“I left the Mist Pacifier to Belphegor.” Viper admitted making Colonnello pause.

“I thought you called him Bel.” Colonnello offered since Viper had fallen into a sullen silence.

“I used to, yes.” Viper said with a frown. “He was… like a child I never had.”

“What happened?” Colonnello asked as he felt the Mist Flames spread and tighten around them. They were in their own little bubble now, allowing them to talk freely without having to whisper.

“He… he outgrew me.” Viper admitted looking away. “They all did.”

Carefully Colonnello reached over and grasped one of his Mist’s hands in his own.

“Viper,” Colonnello paused to lick his suddenly dry lips, “I’ll buy you whatever desert you want for the next month, if you tell me what’s going on between you and the Varia. Don’t skip the details.”

“Any desert?” Viper asked softly.

“Any desert, anytime, anywhere. Though I can’t promise express shipping if you want something imported.” Colonnello offered seriously and got a soft smirk in return.

“Okay,” Viper nodded, “but I might make you regret it.”

“According to Fon, you’ve already declared me your slave. I’m already neck deep in regret.” He said in mock solemnness that got a surer smile from his Mist.

Then Viper began explaining.

 

* * *

 

 

Viper woke coughing with bile stuck in their throat and the cool hot feeling of something sharp in their chest. Their head was swimming in a chaotic fuzz of muck as memories seemed to crash together. It was at once the worst hangover they had ever felt but there were no memories of ever drinking.

Viper hadn’t had so much as a glass of wine in thirty years.

Slowly the dizzying effect of catching snippets of memories they never experience ebbed away. The cool hot sensation was still there, digging into their ribs. The bile was still coating the back of their throat in sickly acid.

But after a few moments, Viper could pull themselves together. Looking around they found themselves in their private room of the Varia mansion. Thinking about the last thing they remembered they got a weird overlap of memories.

They had gone to bed the night before after enduring another of Bel’s tantrums about how he couldn’t kill some annoying minions. They lay on their bed weak with a rasping breath, one of Bel’s knives held shakenly tight in their hands with every burning ounce of strength they had. They were buzzing with grief and relief, that stupid child had just sacrificed herself but there was Bel, older than Viper remembered just over there.

Shutting their eyes to sleep. Hot pain, cold metal, burning…burning in their chest…god that hurt! Their Flames burning, flaring with the Flames of the others, swirling as they helped push those that weren’t supposed to be there back where they belonged.

Viper came out of the mix gasping for breath. It couldn’t be true, they would never…not for all the money in the world. They weren’t a very religious person, but even they wouldn’t stoop so low as to taking their own life.

That was counterproductive to surviving this awful existence.

It took more time than Viper was comfortably admitting to before they sought out the rest of the Varia. They found them huddled in the meeting room talking adamantly with each other. Not even Bel seemed to notice Viper ghost in.

For a second they were older, more world weary. They were huddled around the meeting table, concern frowns sent Viper’s way. Viper blinked and the others were back to how they were yesterday.

Still so lively.

“I can’t wait for my kohai to get here!” Bel was chattering. “I bet they’re even more adorable now.”

“Of course, he would be, darling!” Luss cooed. “He’s ten years younger now.”

Prince the Ripper snickered. “He’s only a child! Almost as old as I was when I joined!”

Viper was confused about who this kohai was. The jumbled memories weren’t giving them any clue either. But the cool wood of the table felt good against their burning forehead.

“VOI! Why don’t we have eyes on that shitty bastard Byakuran!” Squalo was yelling into a phone. “We need to get his location pronto!”

Byakuran, Viper knew that name. Knew it and cursed it every day for… Viper paused and blinked. That level of unadulterated hatred was unlike them.

A flash of Colonnello stumbling off the transport, blood splattered, dust covered, large blue eyes brimming with tears and hatred.

No Skull. Where was Skull? Why wasn’t their Cloud with him?!

Another flash of white and cackling. They had to run faster but it hurt. Breathing hurt, but Colonnello was yelling to run faster.

Being shoved forward, then the sounds of fighting.

No Colonnello. He had been right there. Where is he? He can’t be gone! He had been right there!

Lichi’s poor small corpse in a shoe box. Just the monkey’s little head and a long tail. A scrap of red fabric and a taunting note.

They had to do this. Just a little more, just a little longer. Verde needed them.

The lab engulfed in flames. White wings and more cackling. Lal dragging them away as they screamed and coughed and not Verde too.

The knife in their hand. No one would think to look for it. Bel threw them everywhere, so what was another lost blade.

It hurt to breathe. It hurt to think. Gods, their chest hurt…make it stop…make it stop.

Viper was pulled out of the swirl of images, thoughts, emotions by Xanxus’s boots thumping on the table. For a moment they felt like they had just run a mile, but their breathing was even. Even as the Sky spoke, it was hard to comprehend the words.

Future. That had been their future. Not the Varia’s future, but the Arcobaleno’s future.

Gods, Viper would happily let the curse take them if that was what was coming.

Speaking of the Varia’s future.

“Baby trash!” Xanxus was calling in a demand. “We need you to locate a young Mist. Roughly ten years of age if a little younger. He goes by the name Fran. He should be in France right now.”

Viper raised their head blinking at the Sky. The Sky Viper had once hoped to be their home. It wasn’t meant to be, but Viper had hoped.

“What?” They croaked voice feeling raw in their throat.

“The Prince’s kohai.” Bel said with a bloodthirsty grin. “He’s coming home where he belongs!”

A few more comments tossed out there. Luss expounding about what cute outfits he could make for their little Mist. Levi grumbling about the sarcastic brat that should respect the boss more. Squalo loudly telling Belphegor he couldn’t try to stab their Mist before the boy was properly trained.

Viper ignored all that and looked to Xanxus. The Varia Sky had such a calm knowing look and a pleased smirk. The same look he gave his elements when they weren’t looking.

The look Viper would never receive.

“Mou, I’ll get right on that. As soon as my head stops spinning.” Viper said trying to ignore the hot stabbing pain in their chest. It had gotten much worse since they woke up.

The other officers didn’t acknowledge what Viper said. Those children didn’t even seem to notice when the Arcobaleno Mist drifted out of the room. Viper oddly felt numb as they fled back to their room.

This time when the bile rose in the back of their throat, they went to their bathroom. Emptying their stomach into the toilet was the most undignified thing they had done in a while. Yet they didn’t stop until they were dry heaving and tears stung their eyes while snot dripped down their chin.

They washed off their face and went for their secured phone. They didn’t even know if they were going to call to initiate the search Xanxus wanted. Instead they found themselves absently dialing a slightly familiar number.

Two rings and a slightly raw but very familiar voice came across the line.

“Viper,” Skull croaked lowly, “remind me to never eat chimichangas before bed ever again. I’ll buy you an island if I must. Just please!”

 

* * *

 

 

“He rambled on about nothing for another four hours.” Viper finished with an almost soft smile. “Up until Reborn called and I patched him in. It was how we really learned about what was going on.”

Colonnello snorted before smirking. “He managed to talk you down though.”

“Yea,” Viper trailed off before taking a breath. “The Varia got hyper focused on finding Fran after that. Demanding new updates almost every hour on the hour. It was only after I found him, and we went to see the kid that Belphegor thought to ask me how I was doing with the new memories. Apparently finding out Fran conveniently forgot his made them worried how I was holding up.”

“You can’t blame them.” Colonnello offered.

“It took several weeks to find the brat.” Viper hissed angrily.

“Okay, so you can blame them.” Colonnello said with a smirk seeing his Mist bristle.

Even he had called to check on the miser a few days after getting his new memories and having Reborn explain what happened. It only took that long because he had to find Viper’s number and he still spent an hour apologizing for not calling sooner. He should have known something was up when Viper didn’t use the opportunity to charge him an arm and a leg.

“I stopped using their nicknames during that time. Mostly because I was annoyed about them constantly asking, when I still hadn’t sorted through all the new information I got from the future.” Viper admitted sulkily. “They didn’t even notice until after the Arcobaleno trial. Even then it still took almost a year before Lussuria brought it up.”

“That’s not all, I suspect.” Colonnello nodded along seeing his Mist needed to get this off their chest.

“None of them notice but I’m not really among them anymore. They have new inside jokes I don’t understand. They bring up a few references and expect me to know them, but I don’t. It makes me feel old Colonnello! Do I look old?!” Viper expounded looking up at him.

Colonnello was glad the Mist barrier around them kept anyone from noticing the outburst.

“No, you look like your twenty-five.” Colonnello offered simply. “Younger with that hood on, twenty-one maybe. Have you been to any raves recently? They might just be your scene.”

Viper paused and it look like it took effort not to let their lips twitch.

“Anyway, the most the Varia want is my information. Mou, I still have one of the best networks in the mafia. But they’re so demanding now.” Viper said with a sigh. “They were pretty demanding before, but now it’s like Xanxus thinks just because I’m the Mist Officer he can get every little scrap of information I have. Even without paying for it!”

“Maybe you should shove your contract in his face.” Colonnello offered making the Mist pause. “Tyr never got a Mist because he knew you’d walk. It’s still a clause isn’t it? Fran seems to be getting better and Xanxus is looking to steal him away soon. Or that’s what Lal told me like a month ago.”

Viper paused, then smirked and nodded.

“Alright but get ready to look sad. I have to take the barrier down now.” Viper warned before the light blanket of cool Mist was lifted around them.

Colonnello schooled his features back into the sort of stoic reverence he usual wore at funerals. The priest was now finished the routine of reading all the sutras. The incense was lit, and people were starting to move.

Viper went to hover behind Haru, passing gifts to the girl as she said her farewells to the mourners that came to the wake. Colonnello found an out of the way corner of the room to sit in as he waited. Tsuna and his group were the last to leave, though Hibari found his own corner to haunt as Haru moved back to the chairs in front of the coffin and the picture of her father.

Neither of them said anything as the girl began sobbing quietly to herself. Colonnello glanced at the boy across the room from him before nodding. Hibari nodded back and the two did their best to ignore Haru’s moment so she could have some privacy.

 

Haru’s vigil was only broken by the need for dinner and a quick pause for another shower. When Colonnello wasn’t lurking in the corner of the room for the girl, Hibari was there. Colonnello knew the two spoke when he had gone out to get some take-out for them, but neither seemed really inclined to clue him in on what they spoke about.

It was fine since Haru did seem to relax a little more after that talk. Colonnello wouldn’t say she was better. It’d be a while before that was the case. But the girl seemed more centered about her place in the world somehow.

The funeral itself was rather cut and dry. Kyoko did show up with her female friend and Viper in tow for the ceremony as well. But the girls respectfully ducked out after Haru got into the car to go to the crematorium.

Before going however, Hibari took him aside and told Colonnello that some of the Disciplinary Committee would be moving the Miura Household Shrine to Reborn’s safehouse. Since Reborn didn’t have a household shrine and it would be improper not to keep Miura-sensei’s urn with the shrine. Reborn had already approved of it apparently, back when Viper had been going through the preparations for the funeral.

Colonnello made himself forgettable against the wall as he watched Haru delicately use the long metal chopsticks to pick up bone fragments from the ashes. Now that he could afford a proper funeral, Colonnello wasn’t sure what he would ask for. He wasn’t even sure he would ask for the gun salute that had been almost a hallmark of his family’s funerals.

He remembered the day his great uncle had died. He had been a young boy back then, gangly and doing his best to be a proud young man like his father wanted. Yet he flinched as he heard the crack of the soldiers firing off blanks from their rifles.

His father had given him a talking to about how real men, soldiers, didn’t flinch at the sound of gunfire.

It was a bad day really. Colonnello remembered the bruises left by his father gripping his arm to hard as he was dragged to the backyard. He remembered being so scared as his father loaded up the pistol and began firing round after round into the dirt.

How much it stung every time he flinched, and his father pinched his arm hard enough to leave a welt.

Colonnello hadn’t flinched when the guns cracked off to the side as they lowered his father’s casket into the ground. He had stood proudly in his dress uniform as his mother quietly cried to herself. He had saluted with reverence when they handed his mother the folded flag that had been on his father’s casket.

His father might not have died in service, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t honored for the time he did give.

He pulled himself out of his musings as the last few rites were finished and Haru came over with an urn tucked against her chest. He gave her an encouraging smile as he led her to the car. Then after she was strapped in, he headed back to the safehouse.

The house was quiet when they got there, and Haru almost started crying again when she saw the shrine set up and waiting for her. She sniffled as she set about properly preparing the space and the lit some incense after making sure everything was just right. She was rubbing the tears out of her eyes as she made her way up stairs.

Colonnello stayed in the living room and flopped down on one of the sofas with a tired sigh. Now of all times he could go for a drink. Something hard and biting, to wash away the past two days.

Instead he got Verde nudging him in the side.

“How is she?” The scientist inquired with a frown. “I saw her pass by. Did she eat anything this morning?”

“She’s as good as she can be given the circumstances.” Colonnello said arm still flopped over his eyes to block out the world. “Yea, she ate. Hibari’s second in command came with some bento boxes this morning. Apparently, he can cook.”

Verde snorted and set up his laptop at the desk nearby. “How are you handling it?”

“I’m fine.” Colonnello groaned. “Just wiped. Funerals aren’t my thing.”

“I don’t think anyone would find funerals enjoyable, even those idiotic macabre teens that listen to that horrid pounding music and bite off bat heads.”

Colonnello chuckled at that. “It’s called death metal.”

“It’s called a brain aneurism.” Verde shot back.

“So where is everyone?” Colonnello asked though he suspected he knew the answer.

“Reborn’s out on the hunt. Fon’s watching over Kyoko. Viper had a blowout with Xanxus this morning and is sulking in their room. And Lal is getting ready to duck back into CEDEF headquarters for a couple of days. She should be back before Skull’s supposed to be here.”

“What did I miss?” Colonnello asked raising his arm to eye his Lightning rather stunned.

“There was an attempt on Kyoko after she left the funeral this morning. Reborn’s taking care of it. Xanxus finally pushed Viper a little too far by demanding they hand over what they know about Skull. Fon stepped in before it got too bad, but I don’t suspect the Varia will be sticking around for much longer. Assassins after Kyoko be damned.”

Colonnello blinked as he let that sink in. “And Lal?”

“She’s got a lead on the Piedmont thing. Judging by her grumbling I suspect Iemitsu might have some hand in it. Plus, she must check in, just in case the idiot does something stupid without her.” Verde said with a shrug looking vaguely uncomfortable. “She might also be looking into distancing herself from the CEDEF. Nothing concrete now, but I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“She’s already looking to move on?” Colonnello asked slowly.

“Apparently, she’s been threatening to for a while. She hasn’t been fond of Iemitsu and how he runs things since he took over. You know she joined them before the brat was even in the Mafia.” Verde said with a frown. “Reborn is hoping she waits just a little longer. I suspect he wants their files. But her tolerance for Iemitsu’s stupidity was already on a short leash as it was.”

Colonnello sighed and dropped his arm back over his eyes.

“At least tell me, Reborn hasn’t killed Bianchi yet.” He almost pleaded as he felt a growing headache starting to form behind his temple.

“She’s alive.” Verde said haltingly. “But you’re better off asking Fon about that. He can fill you in on the details.”

Colonnello sighed again.

“I’m taking a nap.” He decided. “Only wake me up if the world is ending or you guys need food.”

He drifted off to the sound of clacking keys. If he was going to deal with this next load of stress, he deserved a nap beforehand. He earned at least that much.

He probably only got five minutes of well-deserved rest before he snapped awake.

Haru’s feet were pounding as she almost completely vaulted down the stairs. Her high-pitched squeak of delight catching both him and Verde off guard. All Colonnello really caught as he looked at the door was a slight blur and a flash of brown strands.

Not a second later, the front door was wretched open, banging against the wall.

Colonnello shared a look with the still gob smacked Verde, before he was up and skidding into the hall. The front door still lay wide open so Colonnello could see out into the front lawn. He blinked as he headed towards the doorframe because he wasn’t sure what he was seeing.

“London! Whistler!” Haru screeched as she launched herself into the arms of two young men.

“Kawaii!” The man on the right laughed as he caught the girl.

He was short for a man, roughly the average height of most women, with an androgynous face that was caught somewhere between European and Asian. His hair was a silvery platinum blonde and long, though tied up in a high ponytail with a few braids with beads peppered in. It oddly went well with his dark punk clothes and slim build.

Colonnello couldn’t hear what the man on the left was saying from where he stood but the man seemed happy all the same. He was one of the most average looking twenty-something men Colonnello had ever seen. Short well-trimmed dark hair, brown eyes, slight tan, average build and height, dressed in casual nondescript clothes.

The trio stood next to two cars that hadn’t been there before.

Getting out of those cars were other people. The most prominent in Colonnello’s mind were the two professional looking older women, one with voluminous wavy hair in a shocking royal purple color, the other with straight dark auburn hair the color of split blood. Between them was a young woman that looked to be only a few years older than Haru with curly blond hair dressed as a pastel Lolita.

The purple haired woman Colonnello knew. While he normally dealt with her minions, he did occasionally take meetings with her for certain supplies to Mafia Land. And now, looking at her warm tanned visage across the front lawn, he wanted to kick himself for not noticing the family resemblance.

Renegade really did look a lot like her mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a few quick things!  
> 1\. I'm American and while I do know the Catholic Funeral Rites, I don't know Japanese customs as well. I have done some research but if there's a detail I got wrong or didn't add let me know so I can fix it. I also don't really know much about Military Funerals in Italy, so I based it on funerals I've been to in my own country, so if the mentioned funeral of Colonnello's father is offensive let me know how to correct it.
> 
> 2\. **IMPORTANT** Please let me know if I should change the way I space out the change of POV when Viper's Flashback happens. I plan on using this a few times to help both get the thoughts and perspectives of the others as well as show stuff that Colonnello hasn't witnessed. IF I need to add some sort of marker to let you guys know, I'll add it.
> 
> 3\. For those who haven't read the comments! I don't have a Beta reader and while I do go back to try and catch every mistake, I'm only human. So if you see a mistake or something that needs obvious revising, leave a comment about it and I'll get to it ASAP.
> 
> That's all! Thank you everyone for the comments, Kudos, bookmarks and the like! Honestly it's a bit much and I'm so happy you all like what I've written so far.


	13. Friendly Transport

Admittedly, Colonnello felt he deserved some leeway for his oversight.

He best knew Renegade as that adorable dark-haired freckle faced menace that cursed worse than a sailor. Her hair was also a bit tamer than the thick mane her mother sported. But the curve of their face, the shape of their eyes, even their noses were near identical now that Colonnello thought to compare them.

Rebel von Todesfall was also far shorter than her daughter, still tall for a woman but more on the average end of things. She also had more developed curves that were accentuated by the knee length teal blue pencil skirt she wore with a matching suit jacket that cinched her waist. She wore dark nylons, dark high heels, and had smart accessories that somehow added to the sophisticated professional danger she possessed.

Add in the rich warm tan she sported and lack of freckles, the two only vaguely looked related at first glance. The only thing they seemed to share outside of their purple hair and violet eyes, was the fact Rebel also wore black leather gloves. Though Rebel’s gloves seemed just as sophisticated as her suit, rather than the pair of worn biker gloves Renegade sported.

It didn’t help that Rebel looked like a perfectly aged up Cora Damian.

But really, Colonnello knew he was about to open himself up to some rather annoying teasing. He doubted Verde or Viper would kick this group out. Especially since he could already sense Viper hovering curiously near his shoulder peering out of the doorway.

The second professional looking woman, Colonnello didn’t know or recognize. She had long straight bloody crimson hair that cascaded down her back with a pair of piercing eyes the color of toffee. She wore a grey pant suit that accentuated her long legs, a pair of burgundy flats that matched her gloves, and no extra accessories.

Colonnello wouldn’t be surprised if the redhead was a model. She had the sharp facial features that seemed to work well in front of a camera. Her pale skin making her hair and eyes pop, even if her thin lips curled in a chilling smirk.

Still of the three, Colonnello was more disturbed by the pastel Lolita. She was at once adorable and unnerving with her doll like face, curly blonde hair, and large hazel eyes. She also had the most subordinates hovering around her as she made her way to Haru to give the girl a hug.

“Who do you think they are?” Verde asked softly as Colonnello took a step out onto the porch to give the other two room to see beyond him.

“That’s Rebel von Todesfall.” Viper intoned coolly but there was a hint of intrigue to their voice.

“And the others?” Verde prompted sounding more intrigued than Viper.

“I,” Viper paused thoughtfully, “I don’t know.”

“Well, only one way to find out.” Colonnello decided and started to head over. “Haru! You gotta be careful, Kora! Even I know not to jump down a flight of steps with bruised ribs!”

“Sorry!” Haru said wheeling around from where she was talking with the two men she had first greeted. “Haru was just excited, desu. She’ll be careful.”

“Bruised ribs?” The redhead asked her Japanese curling with a noticeable French accent. “Haru-kun? Just what injuries did they say you have? Did they do a proper check or was it a simple field check?”

Haru blinked at the redhead shrinking back a little while whining, “Mama C!”

“Well, well, well,” Rebel purred and stepped up suddenly distracting Colonnello, “not very often the great Colonnello leaves his island paradise. What has you mingling with us common folk, darling?”

“Hello Rebel-san.” He almost drawled. “I’m allowed a vacation every once in a while.”

Rebel pursed her lips suddenly. “I think I prefer how you address me in English, darling. Rebel-san doesn’t nearly have as nice a ring to it.”

“Maybe, but we’re speaking Japanese, kora.” Colonnello said crossing his arms. “I didn’t expect to see you lurking around here.”

“I’m hardly lurking.” Rebel said with a wave of her hand. “Just providing transport and mingling with a family friend. I doubt that constitutes as lurking, now does it?”

“Transport?” Colonnello scuffed. “Does that include trespassing? How do you even know Haru?”

“My adorable Lala is her friend of course.” Rebel began a sly suggestive smirk curling her full pink glossed lips.

“Mama Bella!” Haru cut in with a whine. “You know Ren-chan hates it when you call her that.”

“I’m her mother, darling. It’s my job to embarrass her in front of her friends.” Rebel all but cooed as her attention was now on Haru. “But look at you. You’re just as adorable, no wonder these boys call you Kawaii all the time.”

The androgynous blonde sputtered while the non-descript brunet rolled his eyes. Now that Colonnello was closer he could get a better look at them. His first assessments were spot on, though he missed the blonde’s silvery blue eyes and the faint scar bisecting the brunet’s left eyebrow.

“Gods above, woman!” The blonde threw up his hands, even his voice was somehow androgynous. “Why must you make everything seem so sexual? Next, you’ll be making it seem like Jay and I are going to marry her or something. Jesus, why are you Ren’s mother? Why?”

“Don’t mind Ash.” The brunet intoned in a soft tenor. “We’ve spent the past eighteen hours traveling with Mama Bella. It’s worn away his usual calm.”

“You don’t say.” Colonnello drawled looking at the slightly hissing shorter man glaring daggers at Rebel. Haru for some reason thought that hilarious as she giggled and tried to crawl onto his back.

“Jacob London.” The brunet introduced holding out a hand.

“Colonnello.” Colonnello was only slightly surprised by the firm handshake the other had. “You know Renegade?”

“We grew up together.” London offered with a subtle nod to the smug looking Rebel. “That’s my godmother.”

Colonnello snorted and smirked. “I don’t know if I should pity you or initiate a tactical retreat.”

London just smirked back. Then he turned and eyed the blonde man who was slumping under Haru’s weight. It almost appeared like she was purposely weighing him down so he wouldn’t lash out.

“This is Ashley Whistler. He often collaborates with Renegade for work.” London said motioning to the blonde who managed to tilt his head enough to send them a glare. “You already seem to know Mama Bella.”

“Of course, he knows me, darling. We’re business associates.” Rebel grinned winking at Colonnello.

“This is Nina Doll.” London continued as he motioned to the Lolita girl who curtsied. “And her future mother-in-law Doctor Crimson Harts. Though we all call her Mama C for short.”

“Good afternoon.” The redhead said curtly because she was glaring at Haru. “You have yet to answer any of my questions, young lady.”

“Awe, Mama C, I’m fine. They brought in a personal doctor for me and everything.” Haru defended where she was still almost sitting on Whistler’s shoulders.

“Personal doctor?” Crimson raised her eyebrow. “What were their qualifications?”

“Um,” Haru blinked looking like she was thinking quickly, “he was the school nurse at my friends’ middle school for like two years almost… desu.”

“Excuse me?” Crimson asked with an affronted tone Colonnello only heard from disapproving mothers that just got backtalked to by their misbehaving children. “A former school-nurse? Is that all they have to offer?”

Crimson turned sharply and began barking orders at the small group of subordinates with them in aggravated French. Colonnello was rather impressed as the redhead easily shouldered her way into the house and practically frog-marched Haru up the stairs towards her room. One of the subordinates dutifully a step behind holding a leather burgundy bag which already produced a stethoscope.

“Uh?” Colonnello blinked wondering if they should maybe have at least Viper keep an eye on the trio.

“Don’t worry darling. That’s just Crim in her professional doctor mode.” Rebel said patting him on the shoulder. “Haru-kun will be fine.”

“Is she really a doctor?” Verde asked from where he was leaning against the doorjamb into the living room.

“Yep!” Rebel chimed happily. “She’s queen of the ER where she works.”

“Um,” Nina began almost raising her hand, “do you happen to have anything to drink? Mama C won’t be leaving until she’s satisfied with Haru-chan’s condition. It might take a minute.”

“We got coffee, tea, or water.” Colonnello offered politely.

“Jasmine tea?” Nina asked perking up so Colonnello wracked his brain.

“I do believe so, yes. But will green tea work if we don’t?” He offered getting a nod in return.

“Come in here,” Verde said motioning to the group. “You can find a seat while you wait.”

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Nina began as they followed the scientist into the living room, “who are you?”

Colonnello took that moment to turn and head for the kitchen. If he texted the others that weren’t present about their current guests, well he didn’t want them to get startled. It had sounded like they were all having a rough day after all.

 

 

Colonnello entered the living room with an assortment of cups, a pot of jasmine tea, the pot of coffee, and a pitcher of water on a tray. He added a few crackers and other finger food on a small plater that was soon set on the coffee table. He also noted that both groups had been introduced in the meantime.

“So, what brings you here? You didn’t actually say.” Colonnello asked Rebel as Viper and Nina seemed to be speaking about fashion.

“Like I said before, I’m just transport darling.” Rebel said with a smirk. “Whistler and London needed a lift and I happened to be in the area. When my darling Lala called them about Haru-kun they were already on their way to Japan. Unfortunately, Whistler’s passport was suspended a month ago, travel restrictions I’m afraid.”

“Doesn’t explain the doc and Nina-chan.” Colonnello pointed out getting a laugh.

“Oh, that. When the boys called, I was stuck listening to those two argue over wedding arrangements. I was reluctant to help or even let London ditch his job in New York, but they made a good argument. Crim asked what was going on and insisted on coming after hearing about Haru-kun. She also insisted on dragging Nina along because those two can’t seem to make wedding arrangements over the phone.”

“Huh,” Colonnello said looking over to Nina sitting next to Viper with perfect poster. She really was creepily doll like. “So, she’s marrying one of the doc’s children?”

“Yep, my adorable nephew Ronny.” Rebel said with a grin. “He’s grown up so much, already getting married and opening up a bakery. I’m happy for him. He never did want to take over his father’s business.”

Sanguine, Colonnello thought, she was talking about Sanguine. He was the only one of Renegade’s potential family he knew of that apparently opened a bakery. A Cloud that, if Colonnello was remembering things right, was once an enforcer for the Carcassa.

“So, what’s with the minions?” Colonnello asked eyeing a few of the suit wearing men hovering around the edges of the room. There were five in total but Colonnello suspected there might be more lurking about.

“That’s my brother’s doing, unfortunately.” Rebel sighed with a wave of her hand. “He’s like the boss and given what’s already being said about what’s going on here. Well he’s pretty protective of his wife and children, including potential in-laws.”

Somehow Colonnello wasn’t surprised. He remembered the picture he had of Skull’s oldest, Anthony, and how much like a Cloud the boy looked. It wouldn’t surprise him if the boy had grown up to be overprotective, especially with Skull as his father.

The more they dug the more it became clear how possessive and protective their Cloud could be.

“So, what’s up with Renegade going to school for engineering? She wasn’t exactly into that sort of thing when she was younger.” Colonnello asked getting a delighted laugh from Rebel.

“Awe, my adorable Lala is looking to take over the little side business Crim has going on. Pharmaceuticals and the production of medical equipment. It surprised most of the family as well, since we thought she’d go work for my brother and his security business. She looked to be heading in that direction at least.” Rebel said thoughtfully before shrugging. “She’s not really into my shipping industry, says it’s boring. I don’t mind since my Denny has always wanted to take it over after I retire.”

“Denny?” Colonnello asked with a raised eyebrow.

“My eldest,” She said with a grin, “he’s such a good boy. Takes after his dad rather than his sperm donner and loves me dearly. All my children do.”

Colonnello hummed. “Dad? I wasn’t aware you were married.”

“Most aren’t and Lala doesn’t like speaking of her dad. His passing is still a sore spot with her, I’m afraid. But she seems to approve of my current husband.” Rebel waved off with a grin. “Doesn’t mean she hasn’t made my poor Gunner sweat though. Lala has always been protective of me, just like her dad.”

“So, she’s the child of your first husband?” Colonnello asked with a blink.

“That she is.” Rebel beamed. “She was my darling Wolf’s pride and joy. He loved all my children, blood or not.”

“You mean the tens of children you had with jilted Skies?” Colonnello almost teased getting a laugh from Rebel.

“Are they still going on about that? My! I’ll have you know I’m not my reputation, darling.” She grinned slyly making him snort. “But enough about me, how about you, darling? Are you still trying to woo the other Rain Arcobaleno with cringy poetry? My darling Lala has told me you’re quite hopeless in regards of the heart.”

“My poetry isn’t cringy, kora.” He all but whined. “And I give her flowers she likes. Women like flowers, right?”

“Depends on the woman.” Rebel said with a nonchalant shrug before shooting him a wicked smirk. “Depends on the flowers.”

Colonnello scowled at her slightly offended.

“Perhaps you just need to up your romantic game, darling.” Rebel said suggestively, smirking over the rim of her cup of tea. “Unless you don’t think she’s worth the effort.”

“Lal is more than worth than the effort.” He almost snarled feeling his hackles raise.

“Then I expect my invitation to the wedding a few weeks in advance.” Rebel said simply.

Colonnello found himself spluttering.

“What darling? I’m a busy woman and if I’m going to take time off for these things I need to know well before hand.” She said simply as he returned to scowling.

“How’d you know I’ll invite you?” He almost growled.

“Because you’ll likely invite the boss. Since I’m one of his favorites, of course I’ll be attending. But I’m not my younger sister or brother and won’t be crashing your wedding for amusement.” Rebel said with a dismissive wave.

Colonnello wasn’t certain how to respond to that so he just sent her a hard look. On one hand, he wouldn’t mind having Skull’s family as guests at his wedding. On the other, he wasn’t sure how he’d react if he didn’t already suspect they were really Skull’s children.

A few weeks ago, having a group of Carcassa crashing his wedding sounded horrible. Now he wasn’t as oppose to the idea as he once was. Not that he was going to be getting married anytime soon.

Lal still wasn’t quite sold on settling down now that the curse had been lifted.

As Colonnello took a sip of his water he felt a presence appear in his blind spot half a second before Fon spoke up.

“I’m sure he’d love to have you there.” Fon said calmly making Colonnello start in surprise.

“Damnit.” Colonnello choked as his water got caught in his throat. “Fucking ninja. Stop doing that KORA!”

He turned to shake his fist at Fon. Rebel was crowing with laughter while the conversation across the room seemed to pause. Fon just stood there with a deceptively innocent surprised look on his face.

Colonnello could see the suppressed smile a mile away.

“I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.” Fon declared pleasantly and Colonnello had half a mind to jump up and slug his Storm in the face.

“Of course, you don’t.” Colonnello agreed sarcastically.

“My,” Rebel breathed finally calming her laugh, “and who are you, darling?”

“My name is Fon.” The Martial Artists introduced moving forward and offering his hand. “And you are?”

“Rebel von Todesfall, darling. So nice to meet you.” She said with an exaggerated eye sweep and a firm handshake. “I thought the boss said you prefer red, not black.”

It was a good point, since Fon was currently wearing a black turtleneck shirt that hug his frame with a pair of dark charcoal dress slacks held up with a black leather belt. Colonnello noted the nice designer jacket casually tossed on the back of the couch near his shoulder, obviously put there by his Storm. It was a rather jarring change to Fon’s normal appearance, but one that would help him blend into the crowd.

“Ah, Reborn asked me to run a few errands today. My normal casual clothes weren’t suitable for a few of them, I’m afraid. You work for Skull then?” Fon asked joining Colonnello on the couch.

“Yes,” She said with a nod and smile, “I took over a little shipping business he started after becoming an Arcobaleno. Just a little something to pull in some cash for when, and I quote, ‘ _That miser decides to charge me for breathing the same air as them_ ’.”

Colonnello snorted as Fon smiled and Rebel giggled.

“So how do you two know each other?” Fon asked looking between them curiously.

“Mafia Land has a contract with her shipping business for some supplies.” Colonnello said with a shrug. “We don’t meet often.”

“No, I usually send Robert or Elise to handle the board of investors. They bore me something fierce. No offence to you darling.” Rebel said turning to Colonnello and he waved it off.

“Trust me, kora, I’ve contemplated putting a bullet between their eyes more than once.” He said getting a smile from Rebel. “By the way, you mentioned not wanting to let London leave his job in New York. He works for you?”

“Well, yes.” She blinked before smiling. “It’s hardly a loss. In fact, the boss needs a small group of my minions in Kyoto for the next few months. It’ll take some shuffling, but he’s proven himself enough to run operations, so I don’t have to.”

“London?” Fon asked with a curious head tilt.

“The brunette.” Colonnello clarified with a nod in the direction of the two men. Fon nodded in understanding after glancing over.

“And the other one?” Fon asked blinking at them.

“Ashley Whistler,” Rebel responded with a fond smile. “He works for my brother’s security firm. Again, boss needs a few of them in Kyoto. I’m not sure what he’s planning, but it’s likely one of those little popup operations he does for a few months before tearing everything down again. It seems to be stacking up to be like that.”

Fon hummed. “I wasn’t aware Skull was thinking of operations in Japan.”

“Boss does what he wills when he wills it.” Rebel said with a fond eyeroll. “Not even we know what he’s up to half the time, until after everything falls into place and the world makes sense again. Then we usually ask yourselves why we didn’t see it before, and he struts around smugly.”

“Sounds like he’s been spending too much time around Reborn.” Colonnello snorted getting a smirk from the other two. “Anyway, are you staying for dinner, kora? I probably should start preparing it soon.”

“I’m not sure.” Rebel said pausing to looking around room. Crimson and Haru were still upstairs and it didn’t seem like Nina was going to stop talking to Viper anytime soon. “I suppose if you don’t mind. We weren’t really planning on imposing on you, darling.”

“It’s no trouble at all.” Fon assured with a smile. “The last few days we’ve been catering to quite the crowd. We’ve even started shopping with unexpected guests in mind.”

“Unexpected guests?” Rebel asked with both eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Haru-chan didn’t really have a place to go, so she’s been staying here.” Colonnello said with a shrug. “Means all her little friends have been underfoot, kora. Not all of them are bad, but…”

Rebel laughed. “Well then, dinner sounds wonderful, darling. But I’m afraid we’ll be leaving shortly afterwards. London and Whistler still have to move into their new apartments and Crim is on a tight schedule.”

“It’s fine, dinner is the least we can offer you.” Fon said with a smile.

“Is there anything in particular you’d like?” Colonnello asked. “I’m not a five-star chef but I’m the best they got around here, kora.”

Rebel giggled, “Chicken sounds divine, darling. Oh, and Nina is a vegetarian.”

“Alright,” He nodded as he stood, “I can work with that.”

Colonnello headed for the kitchen, already thinking of the lecture Skull once gave him about cooking vegetarian. In fact, most of what Colonnello learned about cooking he learned from Skull. If Colonnello remembered right his Cloud once worked as a line-cook in between lulls in his stunt shows.

He barely dodged the blur of brown hair and giggling that was Haru.

“No running in the house young lady!” Admonished the cool redhead that strolled down the steps behind her.

“Not your house, Mama C!” Haru called back as she rushed over to the younger trio of their guests.

“It’s called courtesy, Haru-kun.” Crimson argued as she slipped past Colonnello with a nod in his direction.

He could only smile and shake his head. He thought Tsuna had it bad as he listened to Crimson lecturing Haru from the hallway. Instead he turned and headed to work on dinner, his phone alerting to several texts from the missing members of the Arcobaleno.

 

 

Dinner was rather rowdy but pleasant compared to the last few days. Haru seemed to Velcro herself to London and Whistler while chatting happily with Nina. Meanwhile Reborn appeared and shortly after finishing their food Viper left to take over watching Kyoko so Lal could come home.

Rebel swept along the group she brought like a queen. It reminded Colonnello of Renegade with a lot less swearing, the easy way she seemed to command the room like she owned it. It was for that reason Whistler and London ended up helping him clean up the dishes before leaving.

“Ah, Mama Bella wanted me to give you this before we left.” London said to him as he stopped in the kitchen. In his hand was a small white envelope, like the ones used for gift cards in flower displays. “She said you should open it when you’re alone. Not sure what it is, but she seemed to think it was important.”

“Thanks.” Colonnello said as he pocketed it in the hidden pocket in his suit jacket. He couldn’t wait to change out of the fancy clothes, not caring he was looking rather rumpled.

Shortly after Rebel swept the group of Carcassa out the door, Haru also retired for the night. She was yawning and Fon helped guide her up the stairs when she almost tripped into the doorframe. Colonnello took the time to get the after-dinner drinks and flop on one of the couches in the living room.

“So…” He drawled as Fon came back into the room. Colonnello found his head cradled in Lal’s lap as he sprawled on the couch next to the desk, his cup of hot chocolate on the floor.

“I don’t know about you, but my day has been eventful.” Fon sighed tugging at the collar of his turtleneck.

“Kyoko-chan should be safe for the next few days.” Reborn said tugging at a splotch of discoloration at the hem of his sleeve as he readjusted his cuff.

“Viper left me with some files before they left.” Verde said as he sat at the desk, practically sprawled on top of it with his laptop off to the side.

“Anything important?” Lal asked as she began carding her fingers through Colonnello’s hair.

“Just some stuff they dug up on Nina Doll, Ashely Whistler, Jacob London, Crimson Hart, and Rebel von Todesfall.” Verde said with a sigh. “And a rather interesting Varia file on an arms dealer named Wolf L’ivoire. Did you know L’ivoire is the name often associated with Renegade?”

“Huh?” Colonnello asked pulling himself from the slight haze he was in.

“After doing some digging of my own, I found Renegade is often referred to as Renegade L’ivoire.” Verde said sitting up and running a hand through his hair. “Wolf L’ivoire, was an arms smuggler that was the head of Rebel’s smuggling business before his death by the hands of Tyr.”

“So, he was Rebel’s first husband?” Reborn asked as he worked on cleaning his favorite sidearm on the table.

“It appears to be the case. I also got enough samples from Rebel that I should have a confirmed DNA profile from her in the morning. With Renegade’s and Skull’s, I can confirm if they’re all related or not.” Verde said rubbing his eyes under his glasses. “Did you know Wolf’s name was Dylan Maddox?”

“His real name?” Lal asked sounding surprised.

“Tyr had it confirmed while trying to figure out who Wolf belonged to. At first he looked into the Irish Mob or even the IRA since Wolf was Irish.” Verde said making Colonnello snort.

“I knew she had to be Irish.” Colonnello said ruefully. “Do you know how often Ren-chan likes to speak or sing in Gaelic?”

Lal half pulled half ruffled his hair. “No, we don’t know her well enough.”

“Anyway, Tyr ended up finding out when having an unfortunate meeting with Skull in the back-alleys one night. Skull scared him straight and Tyr stayed away from antagonizing arms dealers, didn’t even speak about it after the report was finished.” Verde said getting a few smirks from them.

“How scared straight are we talking?” Reborn purred darkly.

“Tyr ended up having the entire Varia on a six-month lockdown training mission, got an exclusive contract buying overpriced weapons from Skull’s minions, and paid 2.7 million euros under the table in restitution.” Verde said and Colonnello couldn’t help his impressed whistle. “The Varia is still locked in the arms deal. Viper had been contemplating renegotiating but has since decided it wasn’t profitable to them.”

For a moment they fell into a quiet lull. Fon looked almost like he was meditating, Verde was resting his eyes and looked close to nodding off, Reborn was slowly finishing up his gun maintenance. Colonnello almost drifted off as Lal continued to pet his hair as she sipped her drink.

“So, what now?” Fon asked opening his eyes.

The clinking of Reborn loading his newly reassembled gun filled the air.

“First we take care of these maggots after Kyoko-chan. The Vongola will be underfoot otherwise. Lal will go back to the CEDEF and strip them of everything they have to offer. Then we get to know our Cloud.” Reborn said with a dark smirk.

Colonnello hummed. “Assassin hunting is always fun.”

“I’ll see what fun computer viruses and gadgets I can come up with for Lal’s return.” Verde said with a smirk.

“We should also see what fun Viper can have gutting the Varia. We might need to pay for a few things though.” Fon agreed with a soft smile. “But Tsuna-kun will be off limits, I take it.”

“My no-good student wants to change the mafia.” Reborn said simply. “I hope he’ll enjoy what he wishes for.”

“He probably won’t.” Lal said almost sweetly as she grinned like a cat that just caught a canary.

“Afterwards we’ll deal with this mess with Piedmont and our little Sky.” Reborn finished darkly.

Colonnello would like to deny his own dark smirk, but he wasn’t really in the mood. Not when the others in the room were just as excited as he was. Maybe he should take vacations more often.

Still after getting their general assignments for the next day. Colonnello would be hunting down some leads in the morning for a group of assassins said to be the warehouse district. He had slunk off to the kitchen and pulled down a bottle of Wuliangye he had hidden away.

There were also other bottles of alcohol stashed in the kitchen, but no one needed to know about them.

Instead he grabbed some cups and went over to flop next to a still meditating Fon. They were on the floor near the desks, the same spot Haru had sat to avoid the Varia. His Storm cracked an eye open after Colonnello opened the bottle and poured himself a drink.

“Want some?” Colonnello offered up the other cup he had. The others having already drifted off to bed.

“Think you can hunt down assassins with a hang over?” Fon asked with a smirk but took the cup and bottle to pour himself some.

“I once rendered an IED inert while plastered on some home brew this Arab guy made in his cellar in Egypt.” Colonnello offered with a smirk. “Scared my commanding officer half dead when he thought I was about to blow myself up.”

“Did you ever get nervous doing that?” Fon asked almost curiously and Colonnello could only shrug.

“Not really. I suppose my attitude was, either I get it right or it wasn’t my problem anymore.” He offered getting a snort in return.

“Verde said you were leery of Nina-chan all day.” Fon shifted so he was in a more relaxed position.

“She’s just… really doll like, okay?” Colonnello defended as he finally gave into the shudder he had been suppressing. “Just freaks me out.”

“You don’t like dolls?” Fon blinked with a faint smirk.

“Something like that.” Colonnello mumbled as he looked around the room. “Brings back some bad memories, is all.”

“How bad?” Fon frowned looking at him sharply.

“Just you know, sometimes when you’re in a warzone stuff sticks with you. This one time when we were deployed in Africa, I walked through this bombed out town. I had to do a sweep for insurgents after the artillery barraged the place. Intel said there weren’t any civilians, but in this one house, just a little one story with maybe two rooms at best, there was…” Colonnello paused fighting off the memory. “Did you know some radicals have their families with them, even in a warzone? Want to keep them close or both the parents are so for the cause they don’t really think about the kids. When I looked into that bombed out house there was this little girl, maybe five-years-old…”

Colonnello could remember like it was yesterday. The way the dust choked him even through the bandana around his mouth. The way the wind kicked up the sand into his eyes and the glaring sun pounding him under his equipment.

His boots were filling up with the buckets of sweat he was producing. He could already smell the stench his feet will give off when he had to change his socks later. It mingled with the sharp scent of explosives, metal, and burnt clay that filled the air.

Every once in a while, the wind would shift, and the stench of rotting meat and rusting copper hit him. It reminded him of his neighbor’s uncle who had some pigs when he was growing up. How bloated one of them got when the old man didn’t get out in time to cut it up after the pig had died overnight.

He remembered his back pressed against the hot wall of the hovel next on his list of houses to search. Just a quick get in, make sure no enemies were there, then get out to see the next place. Rinse and repeat, occasionally shoot someone not killed in the bombardment or check a corpse wasn’t going to get up and shoot him in the back.

He remembered the door had been wood with peeling blue paint on it. From the side the place looked like it took a direct hit from one of the shells, but somehow the door had still stood. He hadn’t even glanced at it for more than five seconds before he booted it down.

But now he could almost remember every vein of where the paint was chipping away if he closed his eyes.

There were five corpses waiting for him in the main room. They were huddled together in the center where the roof had collapsed on them. Mangle limbs in dust covered clothes, almost rags of brown or were they red.

An elderly man, a young man, a woman, what looked to be a teenage boy… then her.

A small little head, delicate little shoulders, draped in a dress a size too big for her small frame. She had a round little face with curly dark hair, dull sightless brown eyes staring right at him. Clutched in one tiny chubby hand was the arm of a doll.

It was porcelain, with soft black curls and a cracked face. One eye was caved into the hollow skull so only one shiny brown glass eye stared at him. The doll was dressed in what had to be a pretty ruffled blue dress had it not been caked in dust and blood from where the woman’s caved in skull was resting near it.

The shiny brown glass eye looked just like the dull brown eyes of the girl clutching the doll in her hand.

“Between the rubble and her family, she didn’t stand a chance.” Colonnello forced out as he took a gulp of alcohol. “Her entire ribcage was crushed.”

The sudden firm hand on his upper arm, right near his elbow, brought him back. He wasn’t in that dusty bombed out town. Instead he was again sitting on the floor drinking alcohol next to one of his elements.

“So, it brings you back to that.” Fon said simply and Colonnello found himself nodding slowly. “I also have some things like that. Did you know jade always brings me back to my first kill? Nothing special, just a mistress that needed to be dealt with, but she wore this jade pin…”

Colonnello hummed in understanding. “We probably all have triggers like that, even Verde, not that he’d admit to it. He’s acts like he’s one step closer to being a supercomputer or some higher being, I don’t know which would be worse.”

Fon snorted with a smirk. “Probably the supercomputer, he’d find being a higher being troublesome.”

Colonnello chuckled at that. For a long moment they just sat there drinking. Then Colonnello shifted and eyed his Storm.

“So,” he began before pausing to think of what he wanted to know, “how was your day?”

Fon sighed heavily with meaning.


	14. On Assignment

Colonnello woke to the headache he was expecting. The pounding behind his temples as it felt like something crawled into his mouth and died. A stickiness to his skin and the old scent of alcohol lingering in the air around him.

What he wasn’t expecting, was to wake up with two peoples in bed with him. He was sprawled on his back in just his boxers with a small frame pressed against his right side with a head resting on his shoulder, causing his arm to feel numb. The person was plastered against him to the point they were almost lying on top of him.

The reason being the other person using Colonnello’s forearm as a pillow. Long silken black hair was wound around his fingers as Fon snuggled closer, pressing what turned out to be Viper against Colonnello. Dazedly Colonnello noted that Fon was also in his boxers as he held Viper like a prized stuffed toy.

The night before was a slight blur, but Colonnello did recall trying to help a heavily intoxicated Fon up the steps. His Storm might be able to drink his weight in liquor, but Fon wasn’t quite that robust and was only tall for an Asian. Fon was plastered before the bottle of liquor was even half finished.

Colonnello couldn’t remember if he tried to get Fon to Reborn’s room, or if he dragged the Martial Artist to Viper’s bed. Still he remembered staggering as he tried to wrestle himself out of his clothes, cursing the shoulder holster he wore as he stripped to his boxers. He vaguely recalled Fon softly laughing at him as he ended up on the floor at one point.

Colonnello pushed those fuzzy memories out of his pounding head as he began trying to extract his arm from the pile next to him. Fon grumbled as he pulled Viper closer as his head hit the pillow. It made Colonnello almost snort as he began gently getting out from under his Mist.

“Is it time to get up already?” Fon grumbled as he buried his face into the back of Viper’s neck with a whine.

Colonnello looked at the clock. “If you guys want breakfast.”

Fon huffed out something that sounded like screw breakfast but otherwise didn’t move.

“If you two had sexy fun times in my bed without at least recording it so I can use it for profit, I will murder you two in your sleep.” Viper grumbled even though they let Fon roll over and got comfortable stealing their Storm’s body heat now that Colonnello moved.

“Sorry to disappoint, but we were too hammered for sexy fun times.” Fon grumbled as he almost awkwardly ran his hand through Viper’s shoulder length indigo hair. “Maybe next time.”

“Fuck you,” Colonnello grumbled as he tried to get his feet under him. “The only sexy fun times I’m having is with Lal.”

“You didn’t mind me stripping you last night.” Fon drawled suggestively and Colonnello hated how the heat splashed across his face so quickly.

“Go die, wanker.” Colonnello spluttered while Viper shook with a silent laugh. It became louder when Colonnello tripped and ended up sprawled on his back on the floor.

“You alive over there?” Fon teased getting a curse from Colonnello. “I think he’ll live.”

“Alright but shut up.” Viper giggled. “You still owe me body heat for sleeping in my bed without permission.”

“Yes mine.” Fon said as Colonnello got his pounding head to settle enough for him to get up again.

Colonnello beat a haste retreat for the showers. The cool tile was heaven against his temples as he let the icy water wash away his night of drinking. Still it was enough to wake him up so he could go down and start on breakfast.

Though he did pause to raid the medicine cabinet for some aspirin.

As a light breakfast began cooking, Colonnello dug out some water with electrolytes and began chugging it. Even though he hated the taste it was enough to beat back his hangover. It helped that the pair of dark sunglasses he grabbed as he dug out his usual clothes blocked out the light.

“Had a bit too much to drink last night?” Reborn asked with a smirk as he drifted in.

“Fucking jump off a cliff or something.” Colonnello weakly snarled getting a snort from Reborn.

“You and Fon owe the rest of us a few rounds. Rather selfish drinking without us like that.” Reborn informed him making Colonnello huff.

“Alcohol isn’t always the answer.” Colonnello quoted trying to remember who said it.

“No, but sometimes it helps.” Reborn chuckled making Colonnello roll his eyes. “I take it Fon is sleeping in with Viper.”

“When did they get back?” Colonnello asked as he set out the breakfast food.

“Around four this morning. They came in to huff that the two of you were taking up their bed. I offered mine but apparently it wasn’t adequate enough.” Reborn smirked and Colonnello yawned. “Are you up for getting rid of some assassins, or would you rather laze around?”

“I can run a mission hung over.” Colonnello shot back offended. “But I’m not going to waste energy if I can help it, kora.”

Reborn shook his head and came over. Colonnello tensed only slightly before feeling the flood of Sun Flames rolling over him. It was worse than a shot of espresso but at the same time it almost made Colonnello melt.

Sometimes he hated how nice it felt to be around the Flames of his fellow Arcobaleno. It was more noticeable now that they no longer had the Pacifiers. Those cursed objects had kept the Flames of the others close on hand for so long, it almost felt lonely without them.

More awake and a lot less hungover, Colonnello gently pressed his Flames against Reborn’s. It caused the Sun to back off a bit, but the man didn’t leave his side as Reborn began fixing an espresso. Maybe his Sun needed some comfort as well, given what Colonnello learned about what happened yesterday.

Breakfast came and went quickly after that. Colonnello ducking upstairs after memorizing where his targets would be. He grabbed most of his regular gear before having to nudge his way into Viper’s room.

He easily found the pile of clothes he had been wearing and gathered them up. He hated leaving his stuff lying around in piles, so as he grabbed his side holster and weapon, he dug through his suit pockets.

He blinked as he found the almost forgotten envelope before tucking it into his pocket. The rest of the clothes were tossed into the hamper to be dealt with later. Then with all his gear in place, he headed out with a backpack that had his favorite gun disassembled inside.

The commute was rather uneventful as he held a paper with an address on it. Hardly anyone cast him a second glance as he played the traveling foreigner to perfection. Then he was slinking off to the back alleys to find the exact warehouse where his targets were located.

 

 

Colonnello set up shop in the top floor of a nearby warehouse. He had a pair of binoculars and a good vantagepoint of his target. First, he had to confirm his targets were even there before he could break down the door and begin firing after all.

But before he got too comfortable, he remembered the little envelope. His curiosity had been burning since London handed it to him. But only now he had time to really be alone.

Fishing it out of his pocket he cautiously looked around just in case. Then he took out a boot knife and began lightly cutting the envelope open since it had been sealed shut. He half expected some sort of underhanded attempt on his life but pushed those thoughts aside.

Damn paranoia.

Pushing those thoughts aside, he pulled out a simple small white stock card. He blinked at it and flipped it over to reveal beautiful flowing cursive in blue ink. For a moment it took a minute for the English words to process in his mind but when it did, he was even more confused.

**In six days, bring Sonja Schultz some white lilies for me, will you darling?**   
**51˚41’59.856” N**   
**10˚25’41.844” E**

Colonnello blinked at the words and numbers for a moment. Vaguely his mind recognized the string of numbers and symbols as GPS coordinates. He flipped the card around but found nothing else to explain the weird request.

He assumed the six-day mark was from when he received the envelope. Quickly he did the math in his mind and frowned. That would be around the time Skull would likely being showing back up after radio silence.

Colonnello wasn’t certain if Reborn would even let him leave during that time. It was sort of assumed that Skull would be returning and then all of them could interrogate the man. Now Colonnello wondered what he should do.

At the very least he fished out his phone and plugged the GPS coordinates into it. All he got was some sort of mountainous region in Germany. He would need a better map if he wanted to know exactly what the heck was there, not something he could do with Verde hovering over his computer.

Deciding to focus back on his mission, he shoved the card back into the envelope before jamming it back into his pocket. Yet as he waited the coordinates hovered in the back of his mind. Why would Rebel want him to bring flowers to some lady in Germany?

Huffing, Colonnello turned his thoughts back to what Fon told him the night before. The detailed account of what Fon’s day was would distract him from his curiosity. Maybe then he could focus on his task at hand.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Fon yawned as he woke to Reborn practically strangling him in his sleep. His Sun was always a menace when angry, to everyone. But the two of them had been friends long before they were Arcobaleno.

Fon would even hazard that they had been close friends well before they were Arcobaleno. There was something about the Sun that always drew Fon closer. Perhaps it was just that they were equals in a way, both in their professions and with their Flames.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Fon stretched and began wiggling out of Reborn’s stranglehold. The day before he has spent scouting the temple after running a quick grocery run to the store. It amused him when Lal shoved the usual List and the company card in his face.

The List was the standard ingredients and snacks the Arcobaleno usually ordered. Over the years of meeting up and occasionally spending a few days together meant they crafted a grocery list. He really didn’t need to have the List itself at this point, but like some weird tradition, it was present regardless.

The company card was Skull’s doing. Their Cloud threw a rather magnificent hissy fit after paying solely for their snacks the fifth time they had met up. Next time he informed them that the Arcobaleno were now an investment firm and thus all Arcobaleno related expenses were to be charged to the company.

Viper had tried to call the Cloud’s bluff, but it turns out that Arcobaleno Incorporate was real and profitable. Slowly over the years the rest of them began investing into the company themselves. Fon had made a small fortune through the company, so much so he really didn’t need to work as a Triad enforcer if he really wanted.

The shopping trip itself had been rather uneventful. After gathering everything and double checking Colonnello hadn’t needed anything extra, Fon had made it back to the safehouse to put away the groceries. Fon had spent the rest of the day helping Verde.

Today was the funeral and that added a new layer of complications. Viper was still going to go watch over the girls, but Reborn asked Fon to help with finding the assassins after Kyoko. That meant Fon couldn’t use his more eye-catching red outfit and had to blend in a bit.

It also meant that he was on breakfast duty with Colonnello staying with Haru. It wouldn’t be too hard, Colonnello had actually prepared everything in advance. Fon would just have to put the breakfast casserole into the oven and pull out the assorted fruit salad and drinks.

So, after dressing in casual clothes that would blend in with the rest of the populous, Fon went to do just that.

After breakfast, Fon headed out to track down the lead Reborn had given him. It wasn’t hard to go scout out a hotel really. It was almost child’s play it was so easy.

Fon took note of the coming and goings without much fanfare. In fact, he had found a nice little café near the hotel and was enjoying a cup of tea with a book in hand. While occasionally writing down some notes on a notepad, he could pass as a student working on a report.

Unfortunately, his relaxing stakeout was interrupted by the buzzing of his phone.

“Moshi-Moshi.” He answered calmly without checking the number.

“Get to Sawada’s immediately.” Reborn’s monotonous voice came across. “A sniper just shot at Kyoko-chan.”

Fon raised an eyebrow but began packing up. “She’s doing well I take it.”

“Viper is one of the best.” Reborn said simply before ending the call.

Fon slipped his phone in his pocket and tucked his book and notebook under his arm. He paused to get a cup of tea and a scone to go. Then calmly slipped into the crowd, heading in the direction of Tsuna’s house.

 

 

Fon walked into chaos the moment he stepped into the Sawada household. Nana was off showing Lussuria around apparently, but the rest of the kids were a mess. Kyoko looked pretty shaken up with her brother hovering over her as Tsuna paced nervously.

The boy would turn as if he was going to hover over her before turning around back to his seat. Kyoko, though pale from the shock, was holding up pretty well given she was holding a towel to her friend’s shoulder. Hana, if Fon remembered right, was looking slightly pale as well but seemed to be grimly holding in there despite the bullet wound in her shoulder.

“Apparently she sensed something off and shouldered Kyoko-chan out of the way.” Reborn told him lowly while stealing Fon’s scone. “Viper got them here as quickly as possible. But I need someone else here while I go hunt them down.”

“Of course.” Fon said pleasantly before eyeing the girl. “I take it Shamal has been called.”

“He will be here in a few minutes.” Reborn said lowering the rim of his fedora. “Just make sure my no-good student doesn’t do something stupid in the meantime.”

“I see.” Fon said before taking a sip of his tea. “Happy hunting.”

Reborn ghosted out of there like a shadow. Fon turned to the kids noting Yamamoto was the only one that seemed to be calm, concerned but calm. Fon smiled slightly and slipped into the room intent on seeing how long it took before they noticed him.

Long slow minutes ticked by with Tsuna half pacing, Ryohei hovering, and Yamamoto calmly watching Fon with his baseball bat resting against the side of the chair he was occupying. Fon was slightly surprised to see that Gokudera wasn’t around causing a scene. But that little issue was resolved ten minutes later with the Storm kicking the door in and dragging Shamal into the room by the back of his jacket.

“I told you, ya idiot. This isn’t for me! Hana-chan needs someone to look at her shoulder!” Gokudera yelled at the doctor in his grasp.

“Oh~! Well in that case!” Shamal beamed suddenly finding his feet again.

“I’d much rather go to the hospital than have that pervert anywhere near me.” Hana deadpanned despite looking a little stressed from her blood loss. Fon forced down a small smile at her dismissive glance at the doctor.

“We don’t know if it’s safe yet.” Tsuna cut in wringing his hands. “I mean, why would anyone try to shoot you girls?”

“Not a clue.” Hana drawled. “But shouldn’t we report this?”

“I don’t think that would be a good idea at the moment.” Kyoko said with a strained smile. “Don’t worry Hana-chan. Tsu-kun is perhaps one of the few people you can trust in this situation. He’ll know when to get the police involved.”

Hana heaved a sigh, “If you insist.”

Fon blinked at the intelligent and exasperated look that quickly zipped across the young woman’s face. The kids were all relaxing at her easy acceptance, but Fon wondered if Reborn knew Kyoko’s friend wasn’t convinced by the ruse. Maybe they would have to talk to her about not talking to the authorities.

She suddenly sent him a sharp look. Fon blinked again and decided perhaps he should speak with her first. Clearly if anyone was falling for a ruse it was Tsuna and his friends rather than the intelligent woman sitting there with a bullet hole in her shoulder.

Shamal was quick to whisk the girls to the bathroom where he could better look over the wound. Bianchi scuttled along tossing an anxious look around the room. Fon raised an eyebrow and took a drink of his tea.

“I take it Bianchi-chan and Reborn had a talk.” He tossed into the room at large. He tried to suppress his smirk as the kids jumped but didn’t know how well he pulled it off.

“Fon-san!” Tsuna flailed after letting out a manly shriek. “I didn’t see you there.”

“It’s fine, Tsuna-kun. Reborn asked me to keep an eye on everything here while he goes to hunt down those responsible for Hana-chan’s injuries.” He said to the young man with a pleasant smile. “So far nothing seems to be too out of hand.”

“Reborn went to take care of it?” Tsuna asked relaxing suddenly making Fon’s smile grow.

“Well of course, you and your friends are his responsibility. It would look poorly on his reputation if he didn’t retaliate after someone close to you was harmed.” Fon said simply getting a tired nod from Tsuna who flopped down in his chair looking spent. “I’m surprised you haven’t asked the Varia to look into this.”

“Xanxus-san and the others are in the kitchen. Viper closed the door and we haven’t heard anything since.” Tsuna said motioning to the general direction of where the kitchen would be.

“Well that’s a little concerning.” Fon hummed turning in that direction as well. He could feel his Mist’s agitated Flames from the living room. “They are notoriously rowdy after all.”

There was a long pause before Tsuna was up and hurdling towards the kitchen. Fon followed at a more sedate pace since Gokudera was also rushing forward. Yamamoto appeared at Fon’s shoulder with his bat on his shoulder and an easy smile on his face.

“Careful Tsuna.” Yamamoto called likely already suspecting the tension in the other room.

Fon almost smiled as he watched Tsuna tumble through the door with a shriek. Gokudera just barely stopped himself from tripping over the young future don. It was rather amusing and seemed to cut through the tense standoff taking place in the room.

“Um,” Tsuna stuttered from where he was on the ground staring wide eyed at Xanxus’s glare, “Shamal is here.”

The Vaira leader huffed but relaxed back, shooting a blank faced Viper a glare.

“Fon.” Viper acknowledged through slightly gritted teeth.

“Viper.” Fon greeted with a soft smile. “Having a problem?”

“Just some interpersonal business issues.” Viper said making Fon raise an eyebrow and turn to Xanxus.

“Quiet trash. You’re still my subordinate.” Xanxus almost hissed at the Mist.

“Not for long.” Viper shot back pleasantly. “Part of the reason you’re here is to recruit Fran after all.”

“What does that have to do with anything, Mammy?” Belphegor asked with a frown.

“Ah,” Fon breathed in recognition, “I almost forgot about the clause.”

“Clause? What clause?” Gokudera asked blinking back at him.

Fon smiled at the boy. “Viper is one of the longest serving Varia in the organization. They joined almost as soon as the Nono created the division. As part of their contract, there was a condition to their position in the organization, in case they ever wanted to leave without consequences.”

“I am an Arcobaleno after all.” Viper put in simply still watching Xanxus. “The Nono, like many other dons, was very insistent when it came to getting as many of the Arcobaleno to work for him. Both my joining the Varia and Lal joining the CEDEF had a stabilizing affect during some turmoil of Nono’s earlier years after he took over from his mother.”

“What was the clause?” Yamamoto asked blinking at Fon.

“Should the Varia leader be a Sky and filling the commander positions with their elements,” Fon began with a pleasant smile, “Viper’s contract becomes void when the Sky’s Mist is recruited.”

“So, because Fran is going to join the Varia, Mammon won’t be working for them anymore?” Tsuna asked blinking large eyes at him unaware of how Xanxus was tensing.

“That appears to be the case.” Fon answered simply. “I heard Lal was also thinking of leaving the CEDEF. Her patience with your father has worn thin over the years.”

Tsuna winced in sympathy. “I don’t blame her. But wait, didn’t dad recruit her?”

“No.” Viper answered simply. “She joined before your father was even Mafia. She actually protested his promotion to head of the CEDEF but the Nono felt he was best for the job. That was the first time any of us first heard of her threatening to leave, actually.”

“Why did dad even get the position? Isn’t the CEDEF supposed to be independent of the Vongola?” Tsuna asked looking between the two Arcobaleno, likely figuring they knew the answer.

“They were once.” Fon answered gently. “But over the generation the Vongola assimilated the CEDEF into the Vongola more. Their claim that the first Cloud, Alaude, being part of the Primo’s guardian set being their main reasoning. Personally, I always believed that the more criminal the Mafia became, the more the Vongola hated that another organization had power to hold them accountable.”

“Regardless,” Viper pipped up, “my contract is nonnegotiable. Lal might have a bit more trouble leaving the CEDEF, but it is doable.”

Fon probably wasn’t the only one to notice how the knuckles on Xanxus’s fist started turning white, despite his admirably disinterested appearance. The uneasy look Squalo and Leviathan shared only told Fon they also understood the implications. Tsuna and the rest of the younger kids however were oblivious as they brushed off the information as unimportant.

Fon drank the last bit of his cooling tea to hide his darkly amused grin.

 

 

A few scarce hours later, Fon stepped out back to get a breath of air under the pretense to check the perimeter. The kids were testing his patience as they fumbled and tripped their way through post attack planning. He figured by now the kids would have some form of system, but it appeared Tsuna was perhaps relying a bit too much on Reborn.

It was both good and bad. Good because his old friend needed people to trust in him. Bad because eventually Reborn would have to leave when his contract was up.

It wouldn’t stop him from checking in. Fon knew his Sun kept regular updates on his first student Dino. But Fon also knew Tsuna wouldn’t be inheriting a stable Famiglia that he had been raised in.

Fon wondered if he should express his concerns to Reborn. Fon’s own student was intent on remaining with Tsuna and his friends after all. It wouldn’t be too out of the realm of possibility that Fon was worried of I-Pin’s future after all.

To distract himself from his swirling thoughts, Fon pulled out his phone. He had noted Colonnello had sent him a text earlier but hadn’t had the time to read it. As he flipped open the contact, Fon registered the sound of the backdoor opening before closing.

Fon almost raised an eyebrow as he read the text. It was just a short clipped almost militaristic blurb that Rebel von Todesfall and friendlies were at the safe house. There was nothing else stating why they were there or even if the others should be heading back to the house to meet them.

Fon almost smiled at it, however. It was so Colonnello to be so short and precise with his information. Sometimes Fon wasn’t even sure Colonnello was out of the military with how his Rain acted.

“Gum?” A soft female voice asked as a shorter figure stopped at his shoulder.

Fon blinked and looked over having sensed her approach and deemed her a nonthreat. Hana stood there in the same dark dress she was wearing earlier, hair pinned up, and holding a pack of gum out to him. Her shoulder was now in a sling and someone looked to have patched up her dress the best they could give the circumstances.

“I’d offer you a cigarette, you look like you need it. But I’m trying to kick the habit with early prevention, not sure how long I’ll last.” Hana said making Fon blink as he took a stick of offered gum. Hana flipped the pack around and managed to slip one of the sticks of gum out and opened it with one hand.

“Early prevention?” Fon asked with a smirk.

Hana gave a shrug before wincing. “Easier to get over an addiction by not starting it, right?”

“I wasn’t aware you had those types of memories.” Fon said suddenly realizing what she was saying.

“Someone had to put in a good word for Kawaii when the whole psycho angel thing went down.” Hana said calmly chewing on her gum. “Kyoko-chan wasn’t exactly thrilled to ‘ _drag_ ’ her into the mess. Good thing my boss works for the boss.”

“The boss?” Fon asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You know him.” Hana said with a smirk. “The boss. I always thought he was better off running a motorcycle gang, but who am I to judge.”

Fon hummed having an idea who she was talking about. “The others don’t know I take it?”

“As far as they’re concerned, I’m going to stick with law school and have no nefarious intentions whatsoever. Sawada needs at least one skilled representative after all. Wouldn’t want Kyoko’s future husband stuck behind bars because he’s an idiot.” Hana finished by blowing a bubble with her gum and letting it pop quietly.

“And Kawaii?” Fon asked curious who that was.

“She went to school out of country. But plans change all the time. These days she’s been thinking of going to university in Kyoto.” Hana said with a slight smirk. “Things are heating up around here. I heard Sawada’s friend Enma and his friends are thinking of going to college there.”

“I see.” Fon said before slipping the stick of his gum into his mouth. “Did you know meditation is a good deterrent to addiction?”

“I didn’t.” Hana said with a raised eyebrow. “I was never into that stuff, maybe I should give it a try.”

“Yoga also helps.” Fon offered getting a slight snort from Hana.

“Next you’ll be offering to be my life coach.” Hana smiled with a roll of her eyes. “I’m not here to recruit you to my cause.”

“Then what are you here for?” Fon asked curious.

“You’re more observant than Sawada and his groupies. I wouldn’t be talking to you otherwise. I don’t need you causing me trouble with rumors after all. I got a reputation to uphold.” Hana said with a sniff making him actually chuckle.

“I wouldn’t want to besmirch your impeccable reputation.” Fon said with a slightly teasing grin. “Though, I’m curious. Just who are you when you’re not Hana?”

The young woman shook her head like she was tossing her long hair over her shoulder. “The boss likes to call me Karasu.”

“Well it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Hana-san.” Fon said holding out his hand so she could shake with her good arm.

“Likewise, Fon-san.” Hana said with a smile. “I’m glad to know I don’t have to worry about all of Sawada’s associates being fools.”

“Reborn does have his moments I’m afraid.” Fon said in mock disappointment.

“Oh, I know.” Hana agreed with an exaggerated sigh. “Have you seen some of his cosplay costumes? Haru-chan weeps in despair.”

Fon laughed, “I’m sure she does.”

The two of them shared a smile after calming down from their laughter.

“So, how’s the arm?” Fon asked with a nod to the injured limb.

“Achy, but those pain killers are making me forget about that. Shamal-san said nothing important was hit, but I reserve judgement. Kawaii has already informed me the family physician was in town and later tonight I have an appointment.” Hana said with a put-upon sigh.

“A family physician, hm?” Fon asked intrigued.

“She’s more qualified than a former school-nurse.” Hana said with a smirk. “I learned to trust her judgement later in life.”

“Ah.” Fon said wondering if the person was part of the entourage Rebel likely brought.

The backdoor suddenly swinging open with force drew their attention over. Reborn stalked out looking slightly more agitated than normal. Bianchi followed after, the backdoor slamming behind her.

“Reborn, my love.” Bianchi almost whimpered as Fon gently set a hand on Hana’s good shoulder, causing her to freeze.

“No.” Reborn all but growled glaring at the girl under the brim of his fedora. “What is this shit about us being married?”

“We are.” Bianchi said fisting her hands and almost stomping her foot. “Two years ago, in May. You were there and even signed off on everything before the ceremony.”

Fon watched as Reborn stared, likely sorting through his memories of the event.

“I remember you wanting my permission for some mock wedding you were going on about.” Reborn deadpanned before straightening to tower over the woman. “Are you saying that you slipped a real marriage license in with that gibberish?”

“Well, I knew you didn’t really want a ceremony, given the curse.” Bianchi said shoulders hunched as she tried to shrug.

“We weren’t even engaged.” Reborn said darkly.

“But we’re true loves.” Bianchi said looking up with stars in her eyes. “I was already standing with you while you were cursed, isn’t that enough? Not even Lal could say that, and she was just as cursed as Colonnello.”

The backyard seemed to freeze. Fon already felt his stomach drop as he could feel the churning Flames his Sun was keeping only just under control. Fon knew Reborn was averse to hitting women, but it was looking like he was about to make an exception just this once.

The loud popping of bubblegum cut through the air.

Fon had to fight not to jump as Reborn whirled toward them with gun in hand. Hana didn’t even tense under Fon’s hand, likely already suspecting what Reborn’s reaction would be. Instead the younger woman just seemed to raise an eyebrow at the hitman.

“Kindly put that away.” Hana said briskly with a sniff. “I was shot once already today. I would very much appreciate avoiding being shot again. I don’t particularly like dealing with that perv you consider to be a doctor.”

Fon had to give her props as Reborn sharply lowered his sidearm.

“Fon, Hana-chan, what are you doing here?” Reborn asked regaining his composure as he slipped his sidearm back into the concealed holster under his jacket.

Hana hummed thoughtfully, “I was trying to convince Fon-san to walk me home before the drugs wear off. I would ask Sawada or one of the others, but they’ve already nearly killed my pleasant buzz with their fretting. I still think we should report this all to the police. I was shot after all.”

“I see.” Reborn said slowly before clearing his throat. “How about I walk you home if they’re worried?”

“I’d like that.” Hana said with a slight smile. “You are the one certified to carry a weapon after all.”

“Of course.” Reborn nodded eyeing her.

“Well, come on Bianchi-chan. I probably should say goodbye to Kyoko-chan at least.” Hana said moving forward and tugging the stunned and slightly distraught woman back inside.

The backyard was silent for a moment.

“She wants to get the police involved?” Reborn asked with a frown making Fon snort.

“That’s what she says.” Fon said moving forward to look over his Sun. “But that’s probably the future lawyer in her talking. She represented the Vongola in the future, did you know?”

Reborn blinked once. “I didn’t.”

Fon hummed before smirking. “Skull likes to call her Karasu.”

That made Reborn start and look at him with wide eyes. Fon didn’t blame him, the Storm wouldn’t have suspected if Hana hadn’t told him. It seemed that Skull’s minions were trained to almost scary levels of efficiency.

“Go take a walk.” Fon said nudging Reborn’s shoulder. “I’ll keep an eye on things here.”

“I still can’t believe she slipped in an actual marriage license in with that garbage she shoved in my face.” Reborn sneered with reluctant respect.

“Yes well,” Fon smiled, “Skull does have lawyers among his minions apparently.”

Reborn snorted before smirking. “That he does.”

Hana and Reborn left with little fanfare. Hana was questioning Reborn about whether or not Fon’s suggestion of yoga was an adequate physical therapy for her shoulder. Meanwhile Fon casually chewed on his gum and silently watched over the rowdy children, waiting until Reborn got back so he could see what was going on at the safehouse.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Movement out of the corner of his eye caught Colonnello’s attention. A van pulled up to the docking entrance of the warehouse he was staking out. Blinking he watched as a group tried really hard to secretly get the van into the building without anyone noticing.

Colonnello almost snorted as he quickly let his eyes sweep over the group.

He easily spotted the leader of the group of assassins that took out the contract on Kyoko. They were just a small ten to fifteen group, just one of the groups after Kyoko. Colonnello’s orders were to go in, neutralize their operations, get any useful intel, then clean up the place.

Moving over he quickly assembled his antitank gun and slung it over his shoulder. He might as well clean house while he knew the van was still inside the building. Plus, it would keep his mind off the simple card trying to burn a figurative hole in his pocket.

 

 

Now Colonnello was an old hand at storming enemy encampments, both in the military and the Mafia. It was even easier in the underground because most of the criminals that did have military experience never made it through bootcamp. There were a few old veterans, much like Colonnello himself, that saw active duty and fell into the underworld after they were discharged but they were a rare breed.

Still, Colonnello took a minute to wrap a simple green camouflage shemagh scarf around his head to hide his blond hair and facial features. With the scarf only allowing his eyes to be seen, Colonnello put on his dark sunglasses. With his militaristic fatigues, the only thing that identified his possible identity from some militant terrorist was the blue pacifier hanging from the chain around his neck.

The pacifier was an exact replica of the Rain Pacifier but on his large frame it looked ridiculously tiny. At an even six foot, Colonnello had always been one of the taller Arcobaleno. Reborn topped an easy six foot one with Verde and Skull both said to be six feet four inches though it was hard to tell since both slouched so much.

Regardless, he knew when he came across the first guy in the loading dock that they would easily recognize him for who he was. The man almost managed to stutter out a warning of his arrival before Colonnello casually put a bullet through his temple. Making sure the van was empty, there were a few crates with weapons inside, and knowing the sound would alert those inside to his presence, Colonnello flooded the area with his Flames.

He wasn’t going to stop them, that would be rather cruel, but he knew he slowed their movements. His control over his Flames being enough that when he kicked in the door, the slab of metal slammed against the wall with force but the barrage of bullets racing to greet him suddenly froze in the air before him. He smirked under his scarf and stepped into the building.

It was a pretty easy massacre. Every person he shot seemed to die in slow motion thanks to his Flames lingering in the air. It made avoiding the blood splatter easy as he simply stepped around the gore.

In less than five minutes, thirteen men lay dead at his feet with only one other man standing in front of him. Colonnello leveled his sidearm at the man having not needed his antitank gun like he had thought. These guys weren’t exactly a well-organized unit.

“DADDY!”

Colonnello froze suddenly as the man’s eyes in front of him got impossibly wide.

Pushing through the slowing effects of his Flames, a little girl that couldn’t be more than seven seemed to slowly run in front of Colonnello’s next target. Her feathery dark hair was swirling around her head as she stopped and twirled to face Colonnello. Her large brown eyes were brimming with tears but determined as she threw out her arms as if to guard the man behind her.

Colonnello felt his breath catch as he stared into those brown eyes with only one thought racing through his mind.

 _Well, fuck_.

 


	15. Recon

The world around him felt like it was frozen. It tasted like that moment right before something bad happened. The heart stopping adrenaline of watching a car crash or turning only to watch in stunned horror as his comrade was shot.

He had to fight to get back in control. Flashes of different horrors danced in the back of his mind. The way his best friend had jerked before falling like a marionette with cut strings, a little girl clutching a broken doll clutched in her too small hand, praying for just one more second, if only, if only…

Colonnello risked closing his eyes and taking a deep controlled breath.

He was suddenly back. His Flames lingering in the air around him. A determined child staring at him with fear even as she grimly kept herself between him and his target.

He wouldn’t tell her how easy it would be to just shoot over her head. She was far too short to do much beyond scream as the shot rang out. Yet he found it difficult to pull the trigger.

Sound suddenly crashed into his world.

“Leona! I said get away!” The man behind the girl growled even as he held his own firearm out. Colonnello noticed the faint shake in the man’s arm, enough to throw off his aim.

“No!” The girl yelled back not looking at him. “I won’t let him, daddy!”

The man visibly gulped and cursed. “Leona, please. Run.”

Leona shook her head, feathery dark hair flying whimsically. It looked like she was floating in water with the way his Flames made her hair swirl. Despite that there was something lurking in her gaze that made her seem just as fast as he would be.

Colonnello gritted his teeth as he took in the situation again. There was no way he could pull the trigger. He could easily pull the trigger, had done so in the past, but at the moment he _really_ didn’t want to force this child to see her father die.

It didn’t even matter if he was really her father…

Colonnello took in his target seeing the man for the first time. Dark brown hair, European features, large brown eyes that were too soft to be a killer’s eyes. He was even dressed differently from Colonnello’s other targets, soft trousers and a starched dress shirt.

For one brief inexplicable moment Colonnello was reminded of a less rumpled Verde.

The faint weak Storm Flames pressing against his Flames shoved that thought aside. The man’s arm was noticeably shaking now, teeth openly displayed in his strain. Colonnello didn’t need to be a marksman to notice that the man’s unsteady aim was now so bad he could be a threat to his own child.

Then, as the gun wavered for a second, Colonnello felt his eyebrows raise in surprise.

There in the dull light Colonnello’s eyes caught sight of the safety on the man’s gun. He wondered if he had caught him off guard, he forgot to disengage it. Or if perhaps the man that was once his target didn’t know he had to.

Something sank in Colonnello’s chest at that thought. It was one thing to gun down a target willing to defend himself. It was another to gun down a noncombatant unused to defending themselves.

Using the fact his mouth was covered, Colonnello bit his lip.

A tense second later with the girl glaring a dare at him, Colonnello let out an audible sigh. The man tried to shoot but the gun didn’t fire. Instead Colonnello slammed his Flames into the two.

He watched impassively as they both fell. Slowly he approached and knelt down to check on the girl. She still had a steady pulse under his gloved fingers and with a relieved sigh Colonnello hoisted her up.

For a moment he paused as he looked down at the man that was his target. With one hand he pointed his sidearm down, aiming his sights right at the man’s head. He could justify that the man had tried to fire first.

But the girl’s slight weight in his arm and against his chest made him curse.

He shoved his sidearm into his shoulder holster. Taking a steady breath, he reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. Well, they **_did_** need intel.

It wasn’t like he was getting soft or anything.

Turning sharply, Colonnello quickly located some computer equipment. Apparently, the man had been sitting at them before Colonnello started his attack. Looking around, he spotted the small cot pushed against the wall for the first time.

A small bright pink sleeping bag with a cartoon princess folded neatly on the cot. A small backpack lay open next to the cot with childish activities spilling from it. Crayons, coloring books, a cloth Raggedy Anne doll with bright yarn hair pulled in pigtails, all of it strewn about from where Leona had rushed forward.

Going over and checking the computer equipment, Colonnello found some detachable power cords. They worked as rope as he tied up the girl, careful not to cut off her circulation but not loose enough she would be able to get free. Then he moved over and after patting down the man, tied him up much like his supposed daughter.

For a brief moment Colonnello paused with a raised eyebrow. Apparently, one of the man’s arms from the elbow down was fake. But aside from noting the difference, Colonnello just had to adjust how to tie the man up a bit.

The prosthetic was also set aside in case the guy had any surprises on hand.

The computers he left on were password protected, but Colonnello didn’t really care. Verde would be able to get into them probably before the duo woke up. After picking up the discarded weapon the man had been holding, Colonnello left to do a complete sweep of the place.

Luckily there were no other surprises waiting for him. He silently thanked the universe as he found some old thick packing plastic stacked off to the corner in the large room of the warehouse. Pulling out his boot knife he began to cut off several squares to wrap up the bodies of his targets.

As he worked, he paused to look at the computer room. The girl, Leona, and her father, unknown, were still unconscious and the computers were now all shut down and set up to be transported. It was an issue, especially with the now slowly decaying corpses he would have to dispose of.

Gnawing lightly on his lip, he finally sighed and pulled out his phone. As he texted Verde with an update, he wondered if he couldn’t steal Skull’s minions. Of the Arcobaleno, the Cloud was the only one with an actual organization to pull resources from.

As Colonnello waited for a reply, he wondered about that. Skull had always been the first to organize stuff, whether it was their measly resources or people that came to work for him. Viper and Lal had both joined organizations, and Fon had already been amicable to one of the Triads, but it was Skull that seemed to build his own enterprise from the ground up.

Even the whole Arcobaleno Inc. thing had been Skull. Colonnello hadn’t known the story behind the whole investment company, but he knew vaguely how it worked. While on one hand it was all above board and legal, the company was also set up to help launder any money the Arcobaleno needed from jobs.

It was a pretty good system too. All Colonnello had to do was invest the money from one of his side jobs into the company, and it came back to him clean within a month. He wasn’t exactly sure about the taxes involved, but as far as he knew no one even thought to investigate the company for as long as it was up and running.

Colonnello figured he’d have to ask Skull how it was set up and run later. It seemed like a major oversight on Colonnello’s part now that he thought about it. Although, he probably should have been asking about it long before last night while he was getting drunk with Fon.

Suddenly his phone was ringing.

“Kora.” He answered after noting the number.

“Reborn and I will be there in a few minutes. You do have some transportation on hand, I take it.” Verde stated on the other end.

“There’s a van and an old sedan.” Colonnello said having found the two cars his targets had been using. “I was thinking of taking the van.”

“I see.” Verde said simply before his voice became muffled. Colonnello strained to hear what his Lightning was saying but couldn’t make out anything useful. “Alright, keep an eye on the equipment and hostages until we get there.”

“That’s what I’m doing, kora.” Colonnello drawled getting a snort before the line went dead. “Yea, see you soon.”

He didn’t have to wait long. He did raise an eyebrow as Reborn pulled up in his fancy car. Following the car was a rather run of the mill moving truck, and he could clearly see Whistler and London in the front seat.

“Do I want to know?” Colonnello asked as Verde climbed out of Reborn’s car.

“Haru-chan was happy to help us out.” Reborn said with a smirk looking around the warehouse. “Since they still have their moving van for the day, I thought it best to put it to some use.”

“I see.” Colonnello said before shaking his head. “The two alive are a girl, Leona, approximately seven, and what appears to be her father, unknown, approximately in his mid to late thirties.”

“Any reason you left him alive, aside from the girl of course.” Reborn asked as they moved further into the warehouse.

“He was the one in charge of the computers.” Colonnello shrugged. “Plus, he’s only got one arm and, from what I saw, no experience with firearms. Probably one of those civvies that got pulled in because he’s got Flames.”

Reborn snorted but didn’t comment.

“Need my help? Or can I clean up the rest of this mess, kora?” Colonnello asked even as they made it to the computer room. The man and girl were still thankfully unconscious.

“I think we got it.” Reborn said with a smirk. “Don’t take too long disposing of the evidence. There’s another group I want you to look into across town.”

“Just observation?” Colonnello asked even as he moved to go get rid of the bodies.

“For now.” Reborn replied with a nod before Colonnello was out the door.

 

 

The rest of Colonnello’s afternoon wasn’t nearly as eventful. Disposing of his targets was pretty standard, though he had to find a few creative ways to scatter the chopped-up pieces. And his reconnaissance of the other group was soothingly boring.

He had enough that they could move against them within the week. He did figure they were the newest group targeting Kyoko. The group he took down that morning had been part of the group that tried to take out Kyoko via sniper shot.

Colonnello loved a good recon where there was little action, and no one suspected he might be lurking nearby. When he had been a younger man, he might have found himself itching for action while lying in wait. But these days there was something oddly peaceful about observing his target with the sole purpose of not engaging.

He made it back to the safehouse in time to start on dinner. The house itself was remarkably silent with a note pinned to the fridge that Verde and Reborn were at an undisclosed location “talking” with the man Colonnello captured. There was also another note that stated Haru had gone off to visit _friends_ , so he assumed she was wherever Whistler and London were staying. There were also notes from Fon: recon, Lal: meeting Vongola, and Viper: Varia.

But all were expected to be back for dinner, though Haru stated her attendance would be questionable. Not that Colonnello suspected _Reborn_ knew that, since Colonnello snorted at the cute emoji drawn in the lower center of Haru’s note. It was a smiley face with its tongue stuck out, one line used for the whole drawing, tongue on the right with upturned eyes, Colonnello knew it was a secret code for Safe-Casual-Return.

Renegade had often used these little tags when she was training with him. Like the call signs and radio chatter of his previous life, he learned to recognize each tag for what it was. He noted Skull even used them in some of his written correspondences, likely unaware that any of them actually knew the secret language.

Colonnello had caught Skull in many a lie because of them. One memorable time Colonnello dropped what he was doing to track down his Cloud when he noted the Danger-Solo-Stay symbol hastily scrawled in the corner upper left corner of a secret Arcobaleno message. Skull had looked so relieved when he burst onto the scene for some seemingly asinine reason, he had come up with only a few minutes before.

Then again Skull had been backed into a corner with some two hundred combatants trying to force him into some sort of restraints when he had shown up.

Shaking those thoughts from his head, Colonnello focused instead on dinner. It was pretty easy to get everything prepped and then he let it start simmering. Deciding now was as good a time as any, Colonnello jogged up the stairs taking them two at a time.

He had to rifle through the desk in his and Lal’s room just a bit before finding his computer. Making sure it was charged, he tucked it under his arm and jogged back down to the kitchen. He set it up at the table, so he had a clear view of both the food slowly cooking on the stove and the door leading to the hall.

Once he was situated, he pulled the little envelope with the stock card. Plugging the coordinates into a search engine he eyed the results. It appeared the location was either near or really was a cemetery of some sort.

Frowning to himself, he tapped lightly on the table as he glanced over to the food. He wasn’t quite as versed with the language of flowers as he liked to think, but he was sure lilies were a funeral flower. He was suddenly sure Rebel wanted him to take flowers to a grave marked Sonja Schultz.

“So, who is Sonja Schultz?” He asked the bubbling pots on the stove.

Locating information and people weren’t really his strong suits, that was Viper’s wheelhouse. But he could do basics without blindly hitting and missing. Nibbling on his lip, he turned his attention back to his computer.

The first search seemed pretty obvious to him. Checking the supposed name of the location of the coordinates, he typed in the name of the cemetery. It yielded the results he was expecting, the address matched up with the coordinates.

Nodding to himself, he pulled up the notepad on his computer and typed in the name and address of the cemetery. Then he began searching for a Sonja Schultz associated with that particular cemetery, preferably one that had been buried there. He was surprised by how many results the name Schultz brought up, but luckily there was only one Sonja linked to the cemetery in question.

It turns out that Sonja was a German born American immigrant who passed away in the late nineties at the age of forty-four. Her death was labeled as a car accident, an apparent drunk driver crashing into her car on her way home from work. Apparently, she had wished to be buried in her family’s plot in Germany if she passed away without any surviving relatives.

But there was something that caught Colonnello’s attention.

“May 12, 1955.” He read with a frown. “Where have I heard that before, kora?”

He wasn’t quite sure, but he did know it was twenty-four years before the Arcobaleno were cursed. That seemed significant to him, but he couldn’t put his finger on why. Mentally chewing on that date, he jumped up and headed over to check over the food.

Glad to see nothing burning, he went back to his computer. He added the date to his notes and turned his attention back to the obituary he had found. It was pretty standard, well-meaning words and hardly a rude or unflattering word against the woman.

The kick in the teeth, however, was at the end of the article there was a picture of Sonja.

He’d know the woman in the picture if he met her on the streets, even though the only picture of her he’d seen previously had been black and white. This picture was colored and dated, but it was easy to recognize her as an older Nikita. Her pale hair was a sun bleached blonde and her light eyes were a piercing grey, it would have easily made her washed out if not for her natural sun kissed golden tan.

She was a woman of the outdoors, he could tell. In the picture she wore mountain climbing gear as she stood almost perpendicular on a sheer cliff face grinning at the camera. Her curly hair was short, perhaps shoulder length as it cascaded down, and her smile was radiant.

She didn’t look like a forty something supposed dead woman. There was no sign that she had been burnt up in a fire and she practically glowed. Colonnello wondered absently who took the photo as he could easily see Rebel in Nikita’s figure and Renegade in her long legs.

With her coloring and toned build, Nikita looked like a Nordic Goddess as she defied gravity with only a few ropes tying her to the earth.

Not for the first time, Colonnello had to admit Skull had scored having a wife like that. She was not only was she amazing on the eyes, her adventurous spirit shined through. The Rain could easily envision the type of couple Skull and Nikita would have made.

He imagined they would backpack across Europe and claim they had just gone on an evening walk. Their Christmas cards would probably feature the both of them grinning triumphantly on top of Mount Everest. And undoubtedly if he and Lal would have gone to visit, they would have to watch for the mountain lion the couple kept as a housecat.

Or, Colonnello amended, the couple would have kept Reborn and Fon as house cats.

Suddenly the date struck with vengeance and Colonnello rushed up to dig up the folder they had on Nikita. It took him a few long minutes before he found what he was looking for. When he did find it, he took a moment to scan it over carefully.

There plain as day the date was printed.

On the copy of Nikita’s birth certificate that Viper had scrounge up.

The sound of a car pulling into the drive pulled him from his stupor. Cursing himself, he stuffed the copy back into the folder and shoved it into the mess he made of the desk. He sprinted double time down the steps and skidded into the kitchen just as the front door opened.

He carefully slammed his laptop shut and moved over to the stove.

“Where’s the fire?” Reborn asked as he casually strolled into the room.

“I haven’t burnt anything yet, kora.” Colonnello shot back even though it was nearly a lie as he carefully removed some of the pots from the stove.

“Is everything well, Colonnello? It’s not like you to burn our dinner.” Fon asked having come in with Verde hot on his heels.

“M’fine,” Colonnello said his head almost inside the stove as he pulled out some bean casserole. “I was just upstairs looking for some stuff.”

“Oh?” Reborn asked with a smirk.

“Had to check if the doodle Haru-chan left on her note was what I thought it was.” Colonnello said nodding to the fridge. “Ren used to use stuff like that all the time. Some sort of secret Carcassa lingo that’s a bitch to parse out when you don’t know all of it.”

“But shouldn’t that just be on your computer?” Verde asked eyeing the ancient laptop sitting innocently on the table.

“Yea, but I didn’t want the battery to die and was trying to find the charger.” Colonnello grumbled taking the amusement of the others in stride. “Fuck off.”

Absolute stride.

“What do you think the doodle means?” Fon asked even as Verde left.

“That’s she safe but there’s a chance she won’t make it for dinner.” Colonnello said with a shrug, even as he moved to put the plates on the table. “Ren rarely used it, so there’s a chance I could be wrong.”

“I do hope you have a comprehensive database of this secret language.” Reborn said only for Colonnello to swat him away from his laptop.

“Help me move these dishes, or you ain’t getting any, kora.” Colonnello said getting a chuckle from his Sun who obliged. Fon smiled behind his sleeve before moving to gather up the plates and eating utensils.

“Here’s your charger.” Verde said practically flinging it at Colonnello on his way to stake claim of the coffee pot, but also pulling out the preferred drinks the others usually had at dinnertime.

Dinner was soon on the table and Colonnello plopped down at his computer glad he had set it up, so his laptop instantly went to sleep when he shut the screen. He plugged in his computer and gathered up some of the food for himself. As his computer came out of sleep mode, the front door opened again.

“I don’t fuck care, that bastard is going down!” Lal almost shrieked as she and Viper came into the room. “I swear, I haven’t been gone that long. How the fucking hell did he cause shit to hit the fan so quickly?”

“Well, it doesn’t help that Xanxus and the others are causing a ruckus.” Viper said as they drifted over to the table and began piling food onto their plate. “It seems he’s been overreacting now that he knows the situation, he’s in. It’s not something I anticipated.”

“The Vongola being dramatic?” Verde asked with a snort.

“Tsuna and his friends are currently the only sane ones.” Lal said in exasperation as Colonnello pulled up his database of Carcassa tags.

“That’s distressing news.” Fon said with a frown. “What are they up to now?”

“Xanxus called up the Nono to demand information on Piedmont.” Viper said with a frown. “Mou, it’s caused quite a stir.”

“I’d imagine so.” Fon said with raised eyebrows.

“Apparently the main family had no idea about what is going to go down in Piedmont.” Lal said with an exasperated roll of her eyes. “Timoteo was especially concerned after learning about our… _threats_. Xanxus explained all the Varia know about it, and well…”

“He’s demanding Lal to return to the CEDEF and sort out this mess before Skull becomes involved.” Viper finished between bites. “Iemitsu is not happy.”

“Is that brat every happy?” Colonnello asked with a raised eyebrow.

“When he’s with Nana, maybe.” Lal snorted making Colonnello smirk slightly. “And how was your day?”

“Eh,” Colonnello shrugged.

“Kyoko-chan has one less threat leveled against her.” Reborn said with a smirk. “And Colonnello managed to capture one of the ones responsible for the sniper. He was quite forthcoming with information after he woke up in our care. Verde has decided he’s adequate enough to keep around for now.”

“So, everything else was squared away?” Colonnello asked getting a nod.

“What about the other group we asked you to go take a look at?” Verde inquired making Colonnello shrug again.

“Small, ten at most, but there’s a Sky and a partial Guardian set. The Sky seems to be reluctant though, the kid of the big mastermind behind the plot. You might be able to work that angle if you want Tsuna to take a stab at them.” Colonnello said with a shrug. “You might need to keep an eye on them for another few days though.”

Reborn hummed thoughtfully, “Do you recognize them?”

“Nah, either they’re not big enough to be invited to the island or not the right sort.” Colonnello said getting a nod from Reborn.

“So, have you found what you were looking for?” Fon asked leaning over to look at the screen before raising an eyebrow. “It all looks like drunken kanji.”

“Really? I thought they were more like emojis or something.” Colonnello said pausing to lean back and take another look at his database of Carcassa tags. “I mean, they kind of look like them in different fonts.”

Fon hummed before nodding slightly and returning to his seat. “I suppose, but from my angle they look like kanji.”

“What are you looking for?” Viper asked seeming to fidget in place.

“Apparently the smiley face Haru-chan left on her note is some sort of secret Carcassa symbol.” Fon offered with a smile. “Colonnello apparently has a rather extensive database of them, from the looks of it.”

“I had to make sure Ren wasn’t secretly giving away any secrets she uncovered in Mafia Land to Skull and his minions while she was training with me.” Colonnello said somewhat defensively.

“You know, you have an awful lot of information on Skull.” Lal said thoughtfully. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear you two were close friends.”

“Just because we meet up annually to play battleship doesn’t make us friends.” Colonnello grumbled. “And by now you probably all know as much as I do.”

“Yet you still surprise us with interesting tidbits you manage to scrounge up.” Reborn said with a raised eyebrow. “Is there anything else you know that you might have neglected to tell us?”

Colonnello paused to think it over. He could tell them about Nikita, but then again Rebel seemed to only want him to go to Germany. Pushing that thought aside he scrounge up anything else he might know to appease the annoying hitman.

“Not really.” He said with a shrug. “Unless of course you want to know about their punishments for stupidity or how much Skull hated some of the annual celebrations the Don held just to rile him up. Not that it matters much now, anyway.”

“True.” Reborn said after a slight pause before turning back to his meal. “So, have you found the specific reference you’re looking for?”

Colonnello paused and looked back at the database. He scrolled a little more down, knowing he’d find what he was looking for. Then he smirked and shook his head.

“This looks like it’s it.” He said turning his laptop around to show them.

It was indeed the smiley face with its tongue sticking out, though the one in the picture was drawn in thick black Sharpie marker. It was also placed differently on the piece of cardboard, this one being an upper right corner. Oddly enough the placement gave the symbol a slightly different meaning, but Colonnello knew enough to distinguish the two.

“So, what does it mean?” Lal asked with a frown.

“This is one of the ‘ _I’m safe_ ’ symbols. Since it’s in the bottom center on the note, it means she might be running late.” Colonnello said moving the computer back around to face him.

“And that one? It’s not in the center.” Verde said adjusting his glasses.

“It means the contents are non-lethal.” Colonnello said with a shrug. “Anything on the right side usually marks non-dangerous and non-urgent. Stuff on the left is reserved for danger and urgent. And anything in the middle is sort of a middle ground. Stuff on top is lethal, stuff in the middle is a place, and stuff on the bottom is for time.”

“That means it’s a nine square grid.” Verde said sounding slightly intrigued. “How can they tell if it’s on something large where the placement is?”

“Best I figured, it depends on how big the symbol and the object they put it on is. Paper and boxes are easy, but I once found a sealed vase left behind that was really a pipe bomb in disguise. That was tricky.” Colonnello said shaking his head. “I really don’t know exactly how to read all of them, but I can pull of a decent educated guess at this point.”

Fon hummed thoughtfully. “Perhaps after Haru-chan has gone to bed, you wouldn’t mind sparing a minute to give us a better rundown.”

“Sure.” Colonnello said with a grin before frowning. “Where _is_ Haru-chan?”

“She wanted to go decorate London-san and Whistler-san’s apartments.” Reborn said with a smirk. “Of course, she had to leave us their addresses in case we needed to find her.”

Colonnello snorted and shook his head.

 

 

Haru didn't make it to dinner so Reborn had Colonnello go collect her while Verde copied his database of Carcassa symbols. He didn't mind but made sure to shut down his internet and wipe his search history. He still wasn't sure about the info he found on Nikita.

Although he was hesitant to call the woman dead at this point. She should have died in the ranch fire, but she obviously lived longer than that. If she was alive, well Colonnello wasn't sure what he should do.

As he pulled into the parking lot of a nice apartment complex, he did know one thing, he was going to Germany.

His trek up to the fifth story apartment was nice. Reborn had said this was where Whistler was staying. Looking around Colonnello had to admire the man's taste.

Getting to the specific apartment Colonnello paused a second before knocking on the door. He didn't have to wait long before the door swung open to reveal Whistler. The man blinked at him before recognition flittered over his features.

"Colonnello-san," he greeted pleasantly, "come in. Kawaii was just about to head out."

"Nice place you got here, Whistler-san." Colonnello complimented with a nod as he stepped in.

The interior was as nice as the building itself. Sleek and modern, metal and glass, it reminded Colonnello of Skull's apartment. There weren't many personal touches but Colonnello spied a few things here and there, a framed poster of Harley Quinn, a few cat sculptures, an alter in a corner with a pentagram on a cloth.

"Thank you," Whistler said as he shut the door, "boss pays well."

He led Colonnello into the kitchen/dining area where the Arcobaleno was surprised to find Hana also at the table with London and Haru.

"Colonnello-san." London greeted as he looked up from his fan of cards. Haru and Hana also holding cards and Colonnello could easily spot where Whistler had been sitting.

"Awe, Haru-chan wanted to play one more round." Haru pouted as she spotted him.

"Unless Colonnello-san wouldn't mind playing." Hana said before popping the bubblegum she was chewing. "What do you say, Colonnello-san? Want to try your hand at five card stud. Buy in is just a hundred yen."

"I'm actually surprised to see you here, Hana-chan." He admitted as he walked over and sat down, tossing a hundred-yen coin on the table much to Haru's delight.

"Kyoko-chan wanted to see how Haru-chan was but Sawada was being a paranoid bastard. We came over here for dinner." Hana said with a shrug and he raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Or that's the story if anyone asks."

Whistler snorted, "Is she still on track to being a rat?"

"I wouldn't call an undercover cop a rat. They are trying to uphold the law after all." Haru rolled her eyes as Hana blew a bubble to pop.

"Say what now?" Colonnello blinked as they finished their hand and London began dealing out cards as Whistler collected his winnings.

"Kyoko-chan became a cop when her dreams of being a professional dancer fell through." Hana said with a shrug. "Sawada had spent her time at the academy in Italy. When he came back, they got married and she was a rookie undercover agent looking to bring him down."

"That was why she didn't like it when Haru-chan was dragged into the Vongola. Not that Haru wasn't already doing some nefarious things before she returned to Japan." Haru said with a smirk.

"Man," Colonnello breathed as he discarded two cards to get two new ones, "I didn't see that one. He really was up shit's creek, wasn't he?"

"He was." London said with a chuckle.

"The boss wasn't even sure he wanted to help the bastard." Whistler said with a shrug. "If it wasn't for the curse he probably wouldn't have bothered."

"I'm not surprised to see he had his minions lurking about, but I wouldn't have pegged Hana at first." Colonnello snorted shaking his head.

"The boss always said you would find his agents first." London said with a smirk. "He holds you higher in regard to Reborn-san when it comes to that at least."

"Probably because I've gotten used to sussing out his minions trying to sneak on the island." Colonnello smirked getting amused agreements from the four at the table. "So, what has you two in town?"

Whistler hummed before he raised the bet. "Well our Sky was worried about Kawaii. We all dropped the ball, worried about other things that we forgot about her abduction."

Haru nodded. "Haru-chan even forgot about it. She would have been more vigilant otherwise, desu."

"You guys have the same Sky?" Colonnello blinked getting a smirk from Whistler.

"Yea, Ren is our Cloud. Kawaii here is our Lightning." He said nodding at Haru.

"Our Sun is helping Ren at the moment and our Mist reluctantly agreed to be our Sky's guard." London said with a shrug.

"Ally would have driven Bakadera insane." Haru groused with a heavy eye roll.

"He just knows you should be treated with respect." London soothed. "He wouldn't have tolerated the way that sniveling boy treats you."

"Not that we'll tolerate it." Whistler grumbled. "I'll happily knock out a few of his teeth if you just ask, Kawaii."

"Please don't." Haru sighed.

"Jay'll hold him down so it will only be his teeth. Right, Jay?" Whistler bargained and Colonnello could tell Haru was fighting down a grin.

"Of course." London agreed easily.

"Whatever am I going to do with you two?" Haru asked and Colonnello shared a bemused smile with Hana.

They ended up playing for two more hours. Colonnello found himself enjoying their easy company and also walking away a few yen richer. He even offered to drop Hana off on his way back to the safe house.

As he arrived back with a dozing Haru, he thought about some of the stuff he learned while playing cards. They hadn't dropped any names but Colonnello now knew even Hana had a Sky amongst the Carcassa, and apparently, she was a Cloud. There was also some talk about what was going down in Kyoto that Skull was planning for.

He was rather surprised when Fon held open the door as he carried Haru in. They didn't say anything as Colonnello headed for the stairs, Fon on his heels. His Storm helped him get Haru into bed before following him down to the living room where the others waited.

"I hope your delay wasn't life threatening." Reborn drawled as Colonnello walked through the doorway.

"They roped me into gambling." Colonnello answered with a put-upon sigh.

"Gambling?" Verde asked with raised eyebrows as he looked up from Colonnello's computer.

"Five card stud poker." Colonnello shrugged. "Hana was there."

"Oh?" Reborn asked now intrigued.

Colonnello got to flop down on a couch and relayed what he learned while playing cards. The report made Reborn relax from the almost imperceptible tension he had. The others also listened intently, and he noted a few shared glances.

"Well while you were gone, I got the results of the DNA tests." Verde declared after Colonnello finished his report.

"And?" Viper asked leaning forward.

"Skull de Mort, Rebel von Todesfall, and Renegade L'ivoire are very likely close blood relatives." Verde said adjusting his glasses.

"How likely?" Viper asked with a frown.

"About a ninety eight percent chance given the samples I could acquire with a ninety percent absurdity that Rebel is Skull's daughter." Verde said and for a moment the room was silent.

"Well," Lal began slowly, "we did suspect."

They did, Colonnello admitted to himself. But it was one thing to assume. Now, he felt oddly numb at the news.

"She would have been so young when he was cursed." Fon said sadly as he tucked his hands into the sleeves of his cheongsam.

"How many holidays did we force him to miss?" Lal asked softly.

Colonnello didn't even want to think about it.

"How are we going to make it up to him?" Reborn frowned. "His family…"

Colonnello took a breath and let it out. "We can't change the past. We'll just make sure to account for them from now on."

Slowly the others nodded as Colonnello could see them struggle to push this news out of their minds.

"Anyway," Colonnello breathed, "do you want to go over the database or should we head to bed?"

"Don't think you've gotten out of that so easily." Reborn said and Colonnello was practically dragged over to a laptop Verde had hooked up to the flat screen TV in the living room.

It was going to be a long night and Colonnello hoped Viper didn't mind if he went to sleep with Lal instead.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Where the Bodies Are Buried](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18657298) by [WriterIsNinja](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriterIsNinja/pseuds/WriterIsNinja)




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